


Gravity Rises: Maiden Voyage [Episode Four]

by BrightnessWings19



Series: Gravity Rises: Season Three [6]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Gravity Rises (Gravity Falls), Episode four, Family, Fantasy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mystery, Paranormal, Season/Series 03, Weirdmageddon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 45,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightnessWings19/pseuds/BrightnessWings19
Summary: The township has embarked on its maiden voyage. To stop it, Dipper and Gideon must work together and save Dipper's family.
Series: Gravity Rises: Season Three [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1319543
Comments: 24
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warning: Chapters seven through fourteen of this episode contain references to child abuse and torture. Chapter thirteen contains semi-graphic descriptions of the aforementioned topics.

**JANUARY 12, 2013**

Jesús Miguel “Soos” Ribera whistled to himself as he drove his bus through the cold winter morning. The sun had recently risen over the horizon, and it shone calmly down on the bus.

Soos was in a cheerful mood. He was on his way to Gravity Rises, his hometown, to pick up Mason and Mabel Pines and take them back home to California. The trip would take all day, so Soos was picking them up in the morning, and they would have to leave town sooner rather than later. But Soos was ahead of schedule, so maybe he could stay in town for just a bit. Maybe he could see if Melody Ramirez was still there. . . .

He stopped whistling so that he could grin dreamily as he thought about Melody. What a woman. He didn’t get to see her much these days, since his bus driving job took him all over the western half of the country, but he thought about her a lot. He missed her. Was she still working with Stanford Pines? Since Mason and Mabel were staying with Stanford, Soos wanted to take his bus straight to his museum and say hi to Melody before leaving with the kids.

The beautiful winter sun lit up the trees around him. Soos started whistling again. It was a nice day, and he was going to a nice place, and he would hopefully see a nice friend. It was enough to make anyone happy.

In his happiness, Soos didn’t notice that anything was wrong until the last second.

Suddenly, with a rush of adrenaline, Soos slammed on the brakes. “Woah!” he cried out. He yanked the wheel to the side, and his bus turned and came to a stop in the middle of the road.

Soos’s heart was pounding. What on earth. . . ? He shut off the engine and cautiously got out of the bus, stepping onto the empty road. He wasn’t worried about his bus getting hit; if any cars came along, they would see him in plenty of time to stop.

He walked slowly down the road, his eyes glued to the scene in front of him. After only a few steps, he stopped and simply stared.

Gravity Rises was gone.

Where the town once was, there was nothing but a huge crater. Not only was the town gone, but a large portion of the forest was gone with it. Soos could barely see the trees on the other side where the crater ended and the remaining forest began.

His eyes must be playing tricks on him. Right? This couldn’t be real. He had been here just two weeks ago, and the town had been absolutely fine.

He carefully descended into the crater and shuffled a few steps down the moderately steep dirt incline. The crater seemed even bigger now that there were no trees lining his vision. It extended for miles with nothing but dirt and broken pipelines on its floor.

Soos stared for a long, long time. His brain couldn’t process what he was seeing. Finally, he climbed back to the road, where his bus was waiting for him. He slowly got back into the vehicle and settled into the driver’s seat. With a turn of the key, the bus’s engine rumbled to life.

He looked once more out the window. The crater was still there.

Soos shifted the bus into gear, turned the bus gradually so its back tires wouldn’t slip into the crater, and drove away. His eyes drifted to his rearview mirror, watching the crater as it disappeared from view.

What had happened? How could an entire town, not to mention most of the forest, just disappear?

He had to tell someone about this.


	2. Chapter 2

I have to get out of here.

This was the thought that ran repeatedly through Dipper’s head. I have to get out of here. I can’t stay here. I have to rescue Mabel.

It was Sunday morning, the thirteenth of January. Mabel had been taken Friday afternoon. The last thirty-six hours had been torture. Dipper was so angry that he could hardly think; and when he did think, it was only about how he could get Mabel back. He stayed away from Pacifica — he would probably murder her, at this point, if he had the chance — but Gideon had been interrogating her about how they could save Mabel. Pacifica wasn’t being cooperative in any sense of the word; she was too _happy_ that she’d sent Dipper’s sister to her death.

Melody had given Pacifica the parlor as a place to sleep, complete with Ford’s air mattress. Pacifica had happily informed them that Ford and Lee had been taken captive by Cipher’s servants, so Dipper didn’t want to give her _anything_ of Ford’s, but Melody had given her the air mattress anyway. Pacifica stayed in the parlor most of the time, which was good: It meant that Dipper didn’t have to see her.

Still, the very thought of being in the same _building_ as Pacifica was too much for him. He’d spent most of yesterday outside in the cold, warming his hands with magical heat mushrooms, trying to ignore the voice in his head that wanted to go back inside and strangle Pacifica for _ever_ hurting Mabel.

He was outside now, having just finished breakfast. He stood in the driveway, leaning against Ford’s car, staring up at the perpetual night sky. Bright stars splayed across the heavens — different stars than the ones around Earth. Dipper had never realized how well he knew the stars in his own sky until they had disappeared. Being under this new, unfamiliar sky just made everything worse.

It was beautiful, though. Mabel would love it.

His gaze moved sadly across the sky. There, hovering high above the forest, was a dark blue sphere. It gave off light, like their own little moon, though it appeared bigger and brighter than the moon that orbited Earth. Its light cast the town and the forest in a constant twilight; Dipper could see by it, though it was dim enough to be less than ideal.

Along its surface were jagged lines that glowed a brighter blue than the rest of the moon. They seemed like cracks in a glass ball, ready to give way in a brilliant explosion. But nothing exploded; the moon just floated there silently.

Among the random lines was the outline of a pine tree. Mabel’s symbol.

She was in there.

“Morning, Mabel,” Dipper said softly, speaking to the blue moon. “Gideon is still trying to get information from Pacifica on how to save you. But I don’t think she knows anything about undoing what she did. She probably never asked Bill, and he probably never told her. Why would he?” he added bitterly. Then he sighed. “I’m going to figure out a way. I promise. I’ll get out of here, and I’ll come find you. Just. . . hang in there.”

He realized his unintentional pun and grimaced at the moon, which was hanging in the sky. “Sorry, Mabes, I wasn’t trying to joke around. I know. . . I know there’s probably not a lot of time. I won’t make you wait long.”

He stared at the moon for a few minutes. What was going on in there? Was Mabel in pain? Was she even conscious? Did she know what was going on? Could she see the beautiful, terrible, unfamiliar sky?

The stars suddenly went out, disappearing in an instant. Only the moon, with its blue light, remained. Dipper’s breath caught in his throat.

A minute later, stars appeared again in the sky. They weren’t the same stars.

A chill raced through Dipper’s body, and it had nothing to do with the cold winter air around him. They were in a new dimension. The new stars were the only indication; Dipper couldn’t feel any movement beneath his feet, and he didn’t know what it felt like to move between dimensions. Only the ever-shifting sky showed that anything was moving at all.

What number was this? How many dimensions had they moved through? Dipper had already lost count, although they’d started moving less than two days before. The stars periodically disappeared and reappeared, and their light was so miniscule that Dipper really only noticed the change when he was outside. If the sky changed this often, how many dimensions did they have to pass through before they reached Bill’s dimension? Dipper had no idea.

He also had no desire to find out.

“Dipper,” someone said.

Dipper turned to see Gideon walking towards him. “Hey,” said Dipper. “Any breakthroughs?”

“Not really, but I still want to talk to you.” Gideon came up to the car, then glanced to the side. “Let’s go back inside.”

“Why?”

Another glance to the side. “I don’t want anyone to hear us.”

Dipper followed Gideon’s gaze. In the distance were silhouettes of people forming a ring around the Museum. Gideon was looking at one person in particular, who seemed to be staring right back at them.

“Oh, right,” said Dipper. “Those guys. Yeah, we can head inside.” He squinted in the dim light from Mabel’s moon. “Hey, is that Tyler?”

Gideon looked again. “Tyler Whittaker? Looks like him. We’re being guarded by some of Cipher’s servants and some Order members.”

For a moment, Dipper and Tyler locked eyes across the yard. Or, it seemed like they locked eyes. Dipper couldn’t actually see where Tyler was looking, given the distance and low light, but he thought the man was looking at him. The last Dipper had seen Tyler, they had been down in the Order on the night that Ford retrieved his first Journal. And now Tyler was here, guarding the Mystery Museum, trapping the Symbols inside, ready to aid Bill Cipher in killing them one by one.

Dipper looked away. “Let’s go,” he said to Gideon.

The boys went inside and headed up to the attic. The lights were low, almost dimmer than the blue moonlight outside. When the township had started moving, the power had gone out. The Pines had glowfly lanterns from the minotaurs and fire lanterns from the Order; and generators still worked, thankfully, but it meant that everything was running at low power. Luxuries Dipper had never thought about — like two people using different appliances at the same time — were no longer available.

Once in Dipper’s room, the boys sat side by side on Dipper’s bed. Waddles the pig had been dozing on Dipper’s bed, but now he moved and let Dipper sit beside him. Gideon, still wary of the pig, sat on the other side of Dipper.

Across the room, Mabel’s half-made, empty bed mocked them.

“I have an idea,” Gideon said. “I don’t know if it’ll work, but it’s the best idea I’ve gotten so far.”

“Yeah?” said Dipper. “What’s that?”

“My amulet,” Gideon said. “I can fly with it, so I could make it up to Mabel’s moon. And I can probably work some kind of magic to get Mabel out, though I don’t actually know what I’d do. But I could at least try.”

Dipper frowned. “But your amulet is up at the Manor.”

Gideon nodded. “And we’re currently trapped in here by Cipher’s servants, I know. But we should make a plan to go up to the Manor and get my amulet and rescue Ford and Lee.”

“Ford and Lee? Are they up at the Manor?”

“I think so,” Gideon said. “The way Pacifica was talking, at least. I don’t know where else the servants would take them.”

“The Order headquarters?”

“Maybe, but the servants caved in the passage between the Order and the Manor, remember? I think Cipher has moved his base of operations to the Manor. Plus, when I asked Pacifica about your uncles, she said something like, ‘They’re perfectly safe up there.’ That sounds like they’re up on a hill like the Manor is.”

The thought of getting Gideon’s amulet _and_ rescuing Dipper’s grunkles was a great one. “So what would we have to do?”

“We’d have to get out of here and get to the Manor without getting caught,” Gideon said. “Then we’d have to get inside the Manor. The power outage would have disabled the security systems, but we have generators, so they might’ve turned some of it back on. I don’t know how much security will be up there.”

“How much security do you usually have?”

“Enough that we wouldn’t even get on the grounds without getting caught,” Gideon said.

“So we could be dealing with anything from no security at all to enough security that it’s impossible to get in?”

“No, there’ll be security no matter what. Even if there’s no power to the Manor, you can’t underestimate Cipher’s servants. A lot of those guys are ex-military or ex-convicts. They could beat both of us in a fight without breaking a sweat.”

Dipper remembered the cold, unfeeling eyes of the servants he’d seen in the past. He definitely didn’t want to go up against one of them.

But he would for Mabel.

“Okay, so assume we get in,” he said. “Then what? Do you know where your amulet is?”

Gideon shook his head. “I have a general idea of where my father keeps it when he takes it from me, but I don’t know specifics. And it might not be there; Bill might’ve moved it.”

Dipper scowled. Right. If Lee was in the Northwest Manor, then Bill Cipher was in the Northwest Manor, too. The demon could possess Dipper’s grunkle at any time. Bill would likely be giving the servants instructions from Lee’s body.

“And,” Gideon added wearily, “now that I’ve said that, he probably _will_ move it. We can plan all we want, but Bill is going to know about it.”

“Does he know what we’re thinking even when he’s in Lee’s body?”

“I don’t think so, but I’m sure he can look through our memories whenever he wants. So even if he’s in Lee’s body right now, he’d be able to hear our plan later. And I doubt he’d stay in Lee’s body all the time, since he needs to spy on us.” Gideon rubbed at his eyes. “This feels pretty hopeless, honestly. How are we supposed to save Mabel if Bill knows our every move?”

Dipper didn’t have a response to that. It was exactly the terrifying thought that he’d been trying to ignore for the past two days. 

“We should still make a plan, though,” Gideon said. “There isn’t a better option. We just have to try anyway.”

“Maybe we should leave the plan vague,” Dipper said, “and decide the specifics in the moment. So that Bill doesn’t know what we’re going to do until we do it.”

Gideon hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “We can come up with a couple different options for things, I guess.” He took a deep breath and steered the conversation back to its original track. “So, if we get in the Manor, we have to find my amulet. And Ford, and Lee. Then we’d have to get all three out of the Manor, somehow managing to get Lee out before Bill possesses him and sabotages us. Then the three of you would come back here while I go after Mabel.”

 _That_ didn’t sound right. “Wait, why wouldn’t I come with you?” Dipper demanded.

“Because my amulet can only carry one person at a time,” Gideon said. “I wouldn’t be able to fly you up there.”

Dipper stared at him in shock. He’d never imagined that he couldn’t go after Mabel himself. “But — I have to get Mabel. She needs me!”

“I can’t take you,” Gideon said with a shake of his head. “Sorry.”

Dipper forced down his instinctive anger. Gideon’s not deliberately trying to exclude you, Dip. It’s okay.

But. . . he had just assumed that he’d be the one to go after Mabel. Did he trust Gideon enough to help her? Gideon _had_ hurt her in the past. . . .

Dipper looked sideways at Gideon. “Why didn’t you just go after your amulet by yourself, if you knew I couldn’t come with you to get Mabel?”

Gideon hesitated. “I considered it,” he admitted. “It’d probably be easier to sneak around if it was just me. But. . . when I thought about it. . .” He looked vaguely uncomfortable. “I knew you’d want to help me. And it’d be helpful to have someone to plan with. And who knows if the servants have hurt your uncles? Someone needs to be there to help them home, just in case.”

Dipper nodded, a small smile coming onto his face. “Thanks for thinking of me. I’d be really, _really_ mad at you if you left without me.”

“Right,” said Gideon. His face was a little pink, as if he were embarrassed to be caught thinking about other people’s feelings.

Dipper rubbed Waddles’ ears in silence for a moment. “Well,” he said, “I hate the idea that I can’t come with you to Mabel’s moon. But I’ll help you get your amulet.”

“And your uncles.”

“And my grunkles,” Dipper agreed. “Should we bring anyone else with us? Danny would be able to fight those servants, I bet.”

Gideon pursed his lips and shook his head. “We’re not trying to fight. We’re trying to sneak around. The more people we bring, the more noticeable we’ll be. It should just be us. If we tell anyone, they’ll probably try to come along, or even stop us.”

Dipper thought about that. Would Melody try to stop them? She was basically in charge of the Museum with Ford gone (and probably while he was here, too), and Dipper didn’t know how much risk she’d want to take. But she wanted to get Mabel back, too. Surely she’d see how important this was.

“I think we should at least tell Melody,” he said.

Gideon flinched, just a tiny bit. “She’s the worst person to tell. She’d definitely try to stop us.”

“She’s reasonable,” said Dipper. “She could help us. So could everyone else. Only the two of us should go, I agree, but we should all work together.”

Gideon hesitated. Dipper knew he didn’t like the idea of cooperating with that many people, but they’d need everyone’s support. Finally, “Let’s make a plan together first,” said Gideon, “and then I guess we can tell Melody. But we’re not asking for permission — just support.”

“Right,” Dipper said. “Sounds good.”

“Do you have a notepad?”

“Uh, Mabel might.”

Dipper went over to her side of the room. His heart started beating faster just being near her space. He rummaged through her things, which were scattered around her side of the room, and couldn’t find a notepad. He couldn’t find anything except—

“Oh, no,” he said softly.

“What is it?”

He held it up. “Her sketchbook. She loves to draw. And — now she doesn’t have—” His voice cut off with the sudden lump in his throat.

Gideon looked at Dipper sadly. “We can take it to her,” he said. “She. . . she’ll get it back.” He didn’t sound as strangled as Dipper, but he still sounded emotional.

“Right,” Dipper whispered. He stared at the sketchbook for a moment longer before taking a deep breath and setting it on Mabel’s bedside table.

“Do you know where I might find a notepad and pen? I think Pacifica’s eating breakfast right now, so I can go downstairs to get them.”

Dipper shuddered. He didn’t want to be _anywhere_ near Pacifica. So he told Gideon about the drawer in the kitchen where Melody kept things like pens and paper and such, and Gideon left. Waddles got up and followed him out.

The next minute was uncomfortable. Dipper usually liked the attic room — it was nice and cozy, with the occasional spider friend. But now that his sister wasn’t here to share it with him, it felt like a stuffy prison. If there were space anywhere else in the Museum, he’d sleep somewhere else; but the house was already pretty full, since the Corduroys and the Valentinos were staying here along with Gideon, Pacifica, and Fidds.

Gideon returned, a notepad and pen in hand. He sat next to Dipper and clicked the pen. “Okay. Let’s get started. What are the steps we need to go through before we can rescue Mabel?”

Dipper pulled his focus in. Finally. _Finally_ , he could make plans to rescue his sister. He glanced once more at Mabel’s empty bed, then turned to Gideon.

Time to brainstorm.


	3. Chapter 3

Ford let out the millionth sigh of the morning and shifted once again on the bed inside his prison. He’d never been so bored in his _life._

He was inside the Northwest Manor, where he’d been since Friday afternoon. He and his brother, Lee, had been at the minotaur village, and they’d been suddenly kidnapped by Cipher’s servants. One moment, Ford had been trying (and failing) to fend off Cipher’s servants; the next thing he knew, he was lying on a bed in a nice room within the Northwest Manor. The door was locked, there were no windows, and Ford didn’t see anyone except for the servants who came in to bring him food and change the chamber pot in the corner.

They didn’t even give Ford the dignity of accessing a normal bathroom. They gave him a _chamber pot_.

To be fair, that might be mainly because of the power outage. He wasn’t entirely sure if there had been one, but all signs pointed to that being the case. Ford’s prison room was lit by a single lantern that had been taken from the Order headquarters, and the food brought to him was always cold.

It wasn’t bad food, though, and the servants made sure he had plenty of water. He wasn’t being mistreated. But he was lonely, and bored, and angry about getting captured, and anxious about what was happening outside. No one had told him anything — the servants who came into his room never responded to his questions — but if the servants came to the minotaur village to kidnap him and Lee, then they wouldn’t have stopped there. They would’ve made an attempt for the dagger as well. And a power outage was a sign that the township — meaning the town of Gravity Rises and the magical forest around it — had started moving through the dimensions. Which could only happen if the dagger had been stolen and used to harm one of the Symbols.

They were moving. Ford was sure of it. He didn’t know who had been hurt, though. His mind swirled with possibilities: Mabel, his sweet niece that Pacifica had a vengeance against? Dipper, who wouldn’t hesitate to defend his sister? Lee, who was under Bill’s control?

He didn’t think Lee would’ve been chosen. Bill still needed Lee, for the demon could possess him whenever he desired. And Ford was here, unharmed. So it must’ve been one of the other eight Symbols. Likely Mabel, if Pacifica had any say in the matter.

Whoever it was, Ford should be out there looking for them, trying to save them. But he was stuck here. Stuck with no sunlight, no freedom, no company.

Was this what Lee had felt like for thirty years? No wonder he’d given in to Bill’s promises of relief. If Ford didn’t know better, he’d probably do the same.

Ford didn’t know where Lee was. He hadn’t seen him since they’d been kidnapped. If he had to guess, he’d say that Lee was wherever Bill needed him, getting periodically pulled out of his body so that the demon could possess him. Ford wondered if Lee ever came as a spirit to visit. Ford wouldn’t be able to see him if that were the case, but he wondered all the same.

He let out yet another sigh. What time was it? A servant had dropped off his breakfast earlier, and Ford had long since finished it. With nothing else to do, he had laid back on the bed. It was a nice bed — nicer than the air mattress he’d been sleeping on for the past week — and it was easier on his elderly body to just lay here. No matter how boring it was.

He knew he should get up soon and exercise. He was creating a daily routine for himself to keep up his energy while he was trapped here. But he didn’t want to get up just yet.

Across the room, a key turned in the lock. Ford shot upright at the sound.

The door opened to reveal one of the servants, a man with dull red hair. He closed the door and locked it behind him, then went to pick up Ford’s breakfast place. He acted like Ford wasn’t even there.

“Good morning,” Ford tried. “Will you answer some questions for me?”

No response.

Ford got to his feet. “Excuse me,” he said to the servant. “I’m right here. Don’t ignore me.”

The servant moved to the door. Ford hurried to block his path, putting himself between the door and the servant. “I just have some simple questions for you. It won’t take long.”

The man sighed. “Please get out of my way, Stanford.”

Good, he’d spoken. “I’ll move once you answer my questions,” Ford said. “What’s your name?”

The man looked at Ford warily, sizing up his options. Ford was pretty sure that he could forcibly remove Ford from his path; but thankfully, he didn’t. He sighed again. “I’m Marcus Reed. And no, I won’t let you out.”

Ford raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that rather defeats the purpose of taking me prisoner, doesn’t it? That’s not one of my questions.”

“Well, get on with it,” Marcus said.

“Who was taken?” said Ford. “I know the township is moving. Who did you harm with the dagger?”

“I’m sure you don’t mean me, personally,” said Marcus, “because Pacifica Pleasure was the one who had the dagger. She targeted your niece, the Pine Tree Symbol.”

Ford went cold. He’d suspected this, but it was still terrible to hear. “How did she get to her?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know the details,” Marcus said shortly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“Two more questions,” Ford said. “How did you people get ahold of my knockout patches?” The servants had used Ford’s own knockout patches to knock Ford and Lee unconscious on Friday.

Marcus looked bored by that question. “I believe the Order stole some from you when they attacked you at the UFO the last week. They gave us a few for our own purposes.”

“I see,” said Ford; that had been his best guess. “Last question. Where’s my brother?”

Marcus gave a thin, impatient smile. “Wherever Lord Cipher needs him to be.”

“Is he here in the Manor?”

“I won’t be divulging that information.” Marcus put a hand on Ford’s shoulder to push him away. “If you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way.”

Ford didn’t resist; he moved across the room and glared at Marcus’s back as the man left. Now wasn’t the time for an escape attempt, but _oh_ would Ford like to wipe that thin smile right off Marcus’s face.

Instead, he channeled his energy into an exercise routine. He was horrified that Mabel had been hurt and angry that Marcus hadn’t given him any information about Lee. If Ford was going to help either of them, he couldn’t do it while lying back on a bed in his makeshift prison. He had to be physically and mentally ready at any opportunity to escape.

As he stretched, did pushups, and ran in place, he thought about Mabel and her situation. Could he help her? Andrew the minotaur had told him that there was most likely a way to save the Symbols from death after they’d been stabbed by the dagger. Ford had to believe that it was possible to save his niece. He didn’t know how, but he was determined to escape the Northwest Manor, find Andrew, and rescue Mabel. Who knew how much time they had before it was too late for her?

He’d have to find his escape opportunity soon.

Ford continued exercising, alone in the locked room in the heart of the Northwest Manor.

~~~~~

Dipper had a spring in his step as he and Gideon came down for lunch. The two of them had been working on their plan for the last few hours. They disagreed on some parts of the plan (Dipper wanted to convince one of the Order members to help them leave the Museum, while Gideon wanted to just run for it and take their chances), but at least they had _something_. That was better than it had been this morning.

If there weren’t enemies around the Museum, Dipper would’ve run outside and told Mabel everything they’d planned. Instead, he entered the kitchen (which had a few glowfly lanterns on the counters) and sat at the table with a determined smile on his face. He glanced around for Waddles but didn’t see him. Robbie, Janice, and Greg Corduroy were currently clearing their dishes from their own lunch, which they’d eaten on the first shift to lessen the amount of people in the kitchen at once. With thirteen people currently at the Mystery Museum, things got crowded easily.

“What’s there to lose, Mom?” Robbie said as Dipper and Gideon sat down. “They can’t get to us, and we don’t have to get anywhere near them. We’ll just talk to them.”

“Those servants have guns,” Janice reminded him. “They could easily shoot your father and me; we don’t matter to Cipher.”

“But remember how they tried to shoot Danny the other day?” said Greg. “The bullet disintegrated when it reached the barrier.”

Janice looked doubtful. “I don’t remember seeing that,” she said.

“I did,” Robbie said. “Dad’s right, the bullet just. . . turned to ash.”

“I think we’re safe from the guns,” Greg said. “I think we should try this, Janice. We have to tell the others about Cipher’s true nature. They’re reasonable people; I’m sure they’ll at least listen to us.”

“Well,” Robbie said, “I wouldn’t bank on that. You guys are usually ‘reasonable people,’ but you wouldn’t listen to me until Dipper blew up at you.”

Janice pursed her lips, but Greg nodded in concession.

Speaking of Dipper, “How you doing, Dip-kid?” Robbie asked him gently.

“I’m okay,” he replied, and he wasn’t really lying. He wasn’t _truly_ okay, since Mabel was still out there, but he was better than he had been since she’d been taken. That had to count for something. “What are you guys talking about?” he asked the Corduroys.

“Dad had a cool idea,” said Robbie. “Since he and my mom have officially switched sides”—he looked intensely happy and relieved as he said this—“then they could tell the Order members outside about what made them change their minds. The Northwest servant dudes probably wouldn’t listen—”

Gideon confirmed this with a derisive laugh.

“—but the others might. We want to talk to them.”

“Janice has a point about the guns,” said Gideon. “I thought I saw that bullet disintegrate, too; but it happened really fast. I’m not entirely sure that’s what happened, or if it would happen again. We don’t know for sure if the servants can shoot us or not.”

“Exactly,” Janice said grimly. “Frankly, I’m not worried about you, since Cipher needs you. But Greg and I are disposable.”

“Don’t worry,” said Gideon, equally grim. “We’re disposable, too. Cipher just has a special way to dispose of us.”

Robbie sighed. “Thanks, Gideon, I needed a reminder of that. Look, I think it’s worth the risk to go out there. We need an ally on the other side of that barrier.”

“I agree with Robbie,” said Greg. He put an arm around his wife. “You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to. But I want to try.”

Janice leaned her head on his shoulder and looked sideways at him. “I’m coming with you,” she said. “I want to try, too. I’m just trying to be realistic about the risk.”

“I know,” Greg said gently.

Melody came into the kitchen at that moment. “What risk?” she asked, having heard Janice.

Greg told Melody their plan to go outside and talk to the Order members. Janice added the risks — mostly that of being shot (though Dipper didn’t think it was that much of a risk, given what they’d seen the other day). Melody listened quietly. “Who’s going out there, then?” she asked.

Next to Dipper, Gideon made a tiny noise of surprise. Perhaps he was expecting Melody to oppose the plan. Greg answered, “Me, Janice, and Robbie.”

“And me,” Dipper piped up.

Gideon shot Dipper a look, and Dipper returned it with a confident nod. Gideon didn’t want to recruit help from the Order members, but what better opportunity if the Corduroys were already going out there?

“I can help,” Dipper continued, turning back to the Corduroys. “Robbie said it was me who really helped you guys see the truth, right? I can help the others, too.”

Greg and Janice shared a look, and Robbie said, “You’ve got a point there, Dip.”

“Sure, you can come,” Greg said. “We’ll go after you eat your lunch.”

The Corduroys left the kitchen. Dipper, Gideon, and Melody got their food; Fidds came into a kitchen not long after and served himself, too. Gideon looked disgruntled that Dipper was going to go outside, but he didn’t say anything. He probably didn’t want to reveal their plan to anyone so soon.

Well, Dipper thought it was dumb _not_ to reveal it. “It’ll be fine, Gideon,” he said. “Like Robbie said, we need an ally on the other side of the barrier. This is better than trying to sneak out on our own.”

Melody turned her head sharply at this. “Sneak out?”

Gideon gave Dipper a quick glare, then turned back to Melody with a sigh. “Dipper and I are leaving to rescue Mabel,” he said. “I wanted to try to sneak out on our own, but Dipper thinks we can convince someone in the Order to help us.”

“I bet Tyler will listen to us,” Dipper said. “He’s a nice guy. He’s just misguided.”

“Would you bet our escape on that?” asked Gideon. “Telling an Order member that we’re trying to escape just increases the risk that they’ll stop us.”

“Obviously I wouldn’t tell them about our plan until I think they can be trusted,” Dipper said.

“Nobody outside can be trusted,” Gideon shot back.

“Is it just you two that are planning to leave?” Melody asked, sounding a bit worried.

“Yes,” Gideon said immediately. “We have to go unnoticed; we can’t have too many people. You won’t try to stop us, will you?” he asked with a challenge in his eyes.

“No need to be hostile,” Fidds said mildly. He had a soft, musical voice that Dipper had never heard him raise. His faint Southern accent added a calming drawl to his words.

Melody looked from Dipper to Gideon. “You really think you can get Mabel back?” she asked with hesitant hope in her voice.

“This plan will give us the best chance,” Dipper said confidently. “We’re going to get Gideon’s amulet, and he’ll fly up to Mabel’s moon and save her.”

“Just Gideon?”

“I can’t take anyone else when I fly with my amulet,” Gideon said irritably. “What, are you worried I’d hurt Mabel while I’m up there?”

Dipper _was_ worried about that, even if he knew it was a paranoid thought. “You _have_ hurt her before,” he said quietly.

Gideon flinched at that. Actually flinched. “I’ve apologized. I won’t hurt her again.”

“I believe you,” Melody said soothingly. “I was just asking a clarifying question. So, how will you get the amulet?”

“We’ll have to sneak into my mansion and find it,” said Gideon. “I think Ford and Lee are there, too; we’ll get them out.”

The hope in Melody’s eyes told Dipper that it was definitely a good idea to tell her about all this. “They’re at the Manor? Really?” she said.

“That’s what Pacifica made it sound like,” Gideon said. Dipper looked at him in alarm — he hadn’t told Melody about what he’d found out? She’d been the most worried about Ford and Lee since Pacifica had announced their capture. Why hadn’t Gideon told her that they were likely safe at the Manor?

Well, maybe not _safe_ , but sitting inside a plush mansion was certainly better than starving in a cold cave or something.

Melody seemed to be thinking along those same lines. “That’s a relief, then,” she said quietly. “I’d worried that. . .” She trailed off.

From the look on Gideon’s face, he didn’t think it a relief that the brothers were in the Manor. Thankfully, though, he didn’t say as much. “We can get my amulet and rescue them,” he said. “But we’ll have to escape without being noticed, so we can’t take anyone with us.”

“You seem intent on nobody else coming,” Fidds said.

“Yeah, I am,” Gideon replied. “I’m already worried enough about bringing Dipper.”

Dipper folded his arms. “You wouldn’t be able to leave without me. I’m going to get Tyler to help us, and it’ll be much better than us trying to run away by ourselves.”

Gideon sighed. “I’m not trying to leave without you, though I think it’s a stupid idea to talk to anyone. Tyler might listen — he’s always been pretty weak, just following along with everyone else. I don’t know if he actually believes in Cipher’s cause, at least not in the way the more dedicated Order members do. But still, he could easily give away our plan to people who _do_ believe in the cause.”

“Did you believe in it?” Dipper asked.

Gideon went quiet. “Sorry,” Dipper said, “I was just curious.”

“It’s a fair question,” Gideon said. He glanced at Melody and Fidds, who were watching him with soft, supportive looks on their faces. “Well,” he said, “I wanted Bill gone. The Order wanted to help him escape, and I wanted him out of my life. . . so I figured if helping him escape meant getting rid of him, then I’d gladly do that. But I didn’t realize it would end in people’s deaths.”

“No, he conveniently leaves that part out,” Fidds said.

“The point is, I think it’s great to try to get more people on our side,” Gideon said. “It’s just not safe to tell anyone that we’re planning to leave.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” Dipper promised. He finished his last bite of food. “Okay, I’d better go.”

“I’ll get your dishes,” Melody said. “Be careful, okay? Don’t get too close to the barrier; we can’t risk anyone getting in. Tell the Corduroys, too.”

“Of course,” Dipper assured her.

“I guess I’ll talk to Pacifica some more while you’re out there,” Gideon said. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “I won’t.”

“I think what Gideon’s trying to say,” Fidds said, “is that he’s trusting you.” He smiled softly at Gideon, then at Dipper. “I believe in you, Dipper.”

Dipper smiled. “Thanks, Fidds. And thanks, Gideon.” He took a deep breath. “Well, here goes.”

“Be safe,” said Melody as he left the kitchen.

Dipper found the Corduroys in the living room. Wendy Valentino was in there, too, with cans of spray paint rattling in the bag slung over her shoulder, talking to Robbie about an idea for a protest mural on the side of the Museum. Dipper didn’t think Ford would approve of his house becoming a canvas, but he didn’t think anyone could stop Wendy. She’d brought most of her spray paint with her to the Museum, and she’d been talking about using it since she came here last week. Dipper figured that only a lack of ideas had stopped her — and maybe her dad.

The five of them got into their winter gear, and Janice passed out heat mushrooms. Dipper split his mushroom and stuffed both halves under his gloves like hand warmer packets. “How long will we be out there?” he asked.

“Probably until dinner, if we can get anyone to listen to us for that long,” Greg said. He looked a bit doubtful that anyone would, but hopeful all the same.

“Then let’s get out there,” Dipper said.

Together, Dipper, Wendy, and the three Corduroys went outside.


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper immediately saw Tyler, standing in the exact place he’d been hours before. Had he moved at all? Had he gotten lunch? Guarding the Mystery Museum looked like a super boring job.

“I’m going to go talk to Tyler,” Dipper said, pointing. “Where are you guys going to go?”

“I don’t know who else is out here,” Janice said. “I guess we’ll just pick anyone? I’d feel better if we all went together,” she added with a glance at her husband and son.

Greg and Robbie agreed, so the Corduroys went off in one direction while Dipper walked towards Tyler (and Wendy stayed by the Museum to start her mural). Mabel’s moon was shining its dim blue light, and Dipper couldn’t tell if Tyler had noticed him or not. But he didn’t say anything until he was close enough to talk quietly. He didn’t want any of Cipher’s servants overhearing their conversation.

He could soon make out Tyler’s face, which was watching him warily. Dipper gave a disarming smile, though he stayed silent until he was standing only a few feet from the signs Melody had put out to mark the barrier. “Hi, Tyler,” he said. “Long time no see. How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Tyler said slowly. “What are you doing out here?”

“I thought you might be bored, standing here all day,” Dipper said. “I thought I’d come keep you company for a bit.”

A strange look — grateful and fearful at the same time — passed over Tyler’s face. “Thanks,” he said, “but I really am okay.”

“You look pretty bored to me.”

Tyler glanced around. “Well,” he admitted quietly, “I am. But I have to be out here.”

“How come?”

“To guard you. Keep you safe.”

Dipper frowned, trying to make sense of that answer. “Keep us safe from what?”

Tyler looked uncomfortable, like he knew he probably shouldn’t be talking to a Symbol. Still, “From the creatures in the forest,” he said. “They want to use you for their own purposes. But we’re here to keep them away, to keep you safe until Lord Cipher comes to rescue you.” He attempted a benevolent smile, as if Bill coming to “rescue” them were a great mercy.

Dipper swallowed his instinctive angry outburst. Don’t get angry, Dip. You have to show this guy that you’re still his friend. “That’s not how I understand it,” he said carefully.

The air of discomfort grew. “Yeah, um, that’s what they said.”

“What who said?”

“The Northwest servants,” Tyler said. He glanced around again. “Or, Cipher’s servants. They say you think the magical creatures are on your side.”

“Yeah, I do think that,” Dipper said, a little more sharply than he meant to. “Sorry,” he said, trying to calm himself. “How come Cipher’s servants are acting like they’re in charge?”

“Because they are,” Tyler said; he looked a bit annoyed about this. “Lord Cipher put them in charge, since he can’t—” He stopped and turned a little red.

“Can’t what?” Dipper asked curiously.

“Never mind,” Tyler said. “His servants speak for him now, on his authority. Like we’re not also his servants,” he added under his breath.

Tension between the Order members about the servants. Could Dipper and Gideon use that to their advantage? “It sounds like they’re making you stand here all day,” Dipper said sympathetically.

Tyler shrugged. “Well, yeah. They’re doing it, too. Like I said, we’re keeping you safe.”

There it was again. _Safe_. The word stabbed Dipper in the heart. Mabel certainly wasn’t _safe_. Neither were Dipper’s grunkles. Did Tyler realize that?

“It’ll be okay, Dipper,” Tyler said, seeing the ugly look on the boy’s face. “We’ll watch you until you can help Lord Cipher, and then we’ll all live freely in his dimension.”

Dipper couldn’t stop the noise of disgust in his throat. “Do you know what’s happening to my sister right now?” he asked, his voice rising. “Do you know what Bill is doing to her?”

Tyler glanced up at Mabel’s moon. “She’s helping him get home.”

“No, she’s — well, fine, I guess you’re technically right, but she’s _—_ ”

“Is everything okay over here, Whittaker?”

A servant came over, drawn by Dipper’s voice. Tyler jumped guiltily when he saw her. “Everything’s fine,” he said nervously.

“Hi there,” Dipper said to the servant, plastering a smile onto his face. “I’m Dipper, one of the people you want to murder for your precious demon.”

The servant raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. “You really think that?”

“Yes! You people told me as much just two days ago!” Dipper had come out with Gideon on Friday to talk to Cipher’s servants, and they’d basically said that they were keeping them here until Bill was ready to kill them.

“Of course we wouldn’t have said that,” the servant said. “We’re keeping you safe.”

“Safe from the people who want to save us from _you_!” Dipper said. He had done his best to be kind to Tyler, but he had _no_ kindness in his heart for Cipher’s servants. “They’re lying to you, Tyler. They told me two days ago that they were keeping me here until Cipher needs me. Do you know what Cipher needs me for? Do you know what he’s _really_ doing to—”

“That’s enough,” the servant said with a stern look in her eye. “You should go back inside.”

Dipper folded his arms. “You can’t make me.”

The servant glanced at the nearby sign, which showed exactly where the barrier was. Dipper knew that Melody had put those signs out to warn innocent passersby, but he sort of wished she hadn’t, if only so that these stupid servants would accidentally run into it and get knocked out. “See?” he said to the servant. “You can’t get through this barrier. And neither can your bullets. Not that you’d _ever_ try to shoot me, since you’re trying to keep me _safe_ , right?” he added sarcastically.

The servant closed her eyes briefly. “Of course I wouldn’t try to shoot you,” she said in exasperation. “Whittaker, why don’t you go home for the day? I’ll get someone else to take over for you.”

“That still doesn’t stop me from standing here and talking to whoever you get,” Dipper pointed out.

Tyler glanced between Dipper and the servant, then muttered something.

“What?” the servant asked, annoyed.

“I can’t go home,” Tyler repeated, a little louder. “My house is across the street.”

“Fine, then go back to wherever you’re staying,” the servant said.

“Why can’t you go across the street?” Dipper asked in confusion.

The servant glanced between Dipper and Tyler. “Leave, Whittaker,” she said.

“Okay, I’m going,” he said. “Bye, Dipper. Thanks for talking to me.”

“Bye,” Dipper said, forcing himself to wave cheerfully at Tyler, although what he really wanted to do was glare at the servant.

He thought Tyler looked a little sad to leave him. Hopefully that was the case, because Dipper was determined to find the man again and convince him to help his and Gideon’s escape.

Tyler didn’t show up for the rest of the day, nor the next one. Dipper spent Sunday afternoon and most of Monday outside with the Corduroys, talking to people about Bill’s true nature, about what it meant to be a Symbol, about what was _really_ happening to Mabel in the sphere that hung in the sky. It hurt for Dipper to talk about Mabel and the pain she was no doubt experiencing, but he would do it if it meant convincing the Order members that they were in the wrong.

Cipher’s servants weren’t happy with this campaign, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. On Monday afternoon, there was a terrifying moment when one of the servants tried to shoot Janice. But, just as had happened on Friday, the bullet simply disintegrated into white dust. Dipper and the Corduroys were left with ringing ears and bodies trembling from startled fear, but everyone was otherwise unharmed.

This incident greatly upset some of the Order members — after all, the Corduroys might be traitors to Bill’s cause, but they were still the friends of most people in the Order. There were shouts and accusations — things like “We don’t hurt people!” and “I thought we were keeping them safe!” — and general chaos. Greg helped a shaking Janice back into the house, and Robbie and Dipper stayed outside to add their own voices to the mix.

Eventually, the servants regained control by reminding everyone that Bill had put _them_ in charge, and that the Order members had better listen or else be abandoned by Bill after he gained his freedom. This quieted the Order members, but they didn’t mind talking to Robbie and Dipper afterwards (and many apologized for what the servants had done). The servants tried sending some of them away, like they’d done with Tyler yesterday, but they only had so many people available. The barrier around the Museum was pretty large, with plenty of trees to get lost in, so they had to guard it carefully. As far as the Symbols could tell, there were only about ten servants there, and they needed at least twice that to build a solid perimeter around the Museum. Without the Order members there to help them, the servants wouldn’t be able to keep the Symbols trapped.

Gideon wondered aloud why there weren’t more servants there, since there were a total of twenty people working for the Northwests (now working for Bill). The other ten servants were surely needed to guard Ford and Lee, and to do whatever else Bill needed, but there didn’t seem to be any servants traveling back and forth between the Museum and the Manor. That was strange; didn’t the two groups need to communicate?

Dipper didn’t know what was going on with the servants. He just kept doing what he was doing with the Corduroys. Tuesday morning, he found Tyler once again, standing in a grove of trees on the side of the Museum, hidden from view. Like the servants were trying to hide him from Dipper.

The two of them got talking. Dipper wanted to return to the conversation on Sunday, where he was trying to tell Tyler about how Mabel’s moon was draining her life force, but he turned the conversation on Tyler at first, to help him relax. “How come you said you couldn’t get home the other day?” Dipper asked. “Why can’t you go across the street?”

Tyler hesitated. “I. . . I shouldn’t have said anything about it. I don’t know if the servants want me to tell you this.”

“Who cares what the servants think?”

It looked like Tyler agreed with this sentiment, but he said, “Well, they _are_ speaking for Lord Cipher right now.”

“It sounds like they’re being more violent than Bill,” Dipper said, trying to keep a neutral expression at this lie. In reality, the servants were probably being just as violent as Bill wanted.

“I guess. . . .”

There was silence for a moment, and Dipper tried again. “Do you miss your family? Do you have any kids?”

Tyler shook his head. “No, I live with my sister and her husband. Haven’t seen them since the earthquake. There’s. . .” He hesitated again, then continued. “During the earthquake, the town and forest split apart. There’s a gigantic rift right down main street. You can’t see it from the Museum, since there are trees in the way, but the road is a chasm now. There’s no way across.”

Dipper blinked. “No way.”

Tyler nodded. “It goes off into the forest, and the servants say there are rifts throughout the entire area. The town is basically split in two, on their own little islands. You can’t get across.” He shuddered a little. “I’ve looked down the chasm. There’s no bottom; it goes all the way down; you can see stars below it. I think the only reason the various parts of the forest are still together is because of the barrier around the township.”

An image came into Dipper’s mind of different parts of town and the forest drifting away from each other into space. “Woah,” he said.

“Yeah. Pretty scary.”

“You realize Bill caused this?” Dipper asked. “He’s the reason you can’t get back to your family. Why you’re stuck here in the cold, guarding the Museum.”

Tyler shook his head. “Nobody knew that the rifts would form. They weren’t in the prophecies or anything. It’s scary, yeah, but we’re all going to the same place. I’ll see my family again, and we’ll be in Cipher’s dimension, where we can live free and happy.”

“And I’ll be dead,” Dipper said softly.

Tyler’s eyes widened in alarm. “What?”

“If that happens, I have to die first,” said Dipper in grim surety. “That’s what I was trying to tell you yesterday, about what’s really happening to Mabel up there.” He pointed at the soft blue moon above.

Tyler shook his head again. “No, she. . . she’s fine. She’s helping Lord Cipher, and he generously rewards those who help him.”

Dipper had to stop himself from losing it. “No, he _doesn’t_ ,” he said, making sure to keep his voice down so Cipher’s servants wouldn’t come into the trees and stop their conversation. “In order to power the township, Bill is draining my sister’s _life_. _All ten_ of us Symbols have to die before you reach Bill’s dimension. I don’t—” His voice broke. “I don’t know how long Mabel has. I don’t know if she’s in pain or — or if it’s even possible to rescue her.”

Tyler stared at Dipper in shock.

“Can you help Bill, knowing that?” Dipper said. “Can you really stand there, keeping me ‘safe,’ knowing that Mabel’s dying?”

“I—” Tyler swallowed. “I don’t know who told you that—”

“Andrew the minotaur did,” said Dipper. “The guy who’s in charge of Bill’s prison. He knows basically everything there is to know about it. If he says we’re going to die if we get cut by that dagger, then I believe him. It’s a _dagger_ , Tyler — it’s meant to kill people.”

He could tell that Tyler’s mind was racing as he tried to process this. “You. . . you can’t trust the supernatural creatures.”

“Yeah, I can,” Dipper said. “They’re the ones who put up this barrier to protect us from the Order and the servants. Did you hear about what happened yesterday?” Tyler hadn’t been there when the servant had tried to shoot Janice, but surely he’d heard about it.

“I did,” Tyler said, “and I’m sorry it happened. Janice and Greg don’t deserve that. We don’t hurt people.”

“Then how come you helped Pacifica kidnap Mabel?” asked Dipper. “I saw you that night, when we came to rescue her.”

Tyler looked uncomfortable. “We. . . we wouldn’t have let her get hurt. Cipher didn’t.”

That’s what Greg and Janice had said last week. “He didn’t let Pacifica kill her, but he didn’t stop her from getting hurt,” Dipper said. “You say that you don’t want us to get hurt, that you’re protecting us, but it’s Bill and the Order that have hurt us. Not the supernatural creatures.”

“Maybe they’re lying to you,” Tyler said. “Maybe they’re luring you in with a false sense of security so they can hurt you later.”

“That’s _exactly_ what Bill is doing to you,” Dipper said. “Look, it’s a simple test. Bill can’t lie, right? So, ask him in your head to show up in your dreams tonight. If he does, ask him if Mabel is dying. If he says no, then you know I’m wrong. If he says anything else — anything other than a simple ‘no’ — or if he doesn’t show up at all, then you know I’m right.”

“I. . . I can’t talk to Bill right now,” Tyler said.

“Why not?”

Tyler hesitated, then shook his head. “I can’t tell you that. I. . . I really shouldn’t be talking to you.”

“Because I’ll make you face reality?”

Tyler flinched. “Please, Dip, don’t — don’t act like that.”

“Don’t act like what?” he demanded. He was losing control; he knew it, but he didn’t really care. “Don’t act like my sister is in danger? Don’t act like I might not ever see her again?”

Tyler glanced around nervously. “Don’t yell.”

“I have every right to yell! You should believe me! Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m talking about!”

Tyler put his hands up. “It’s not that you’re a kid—”

“Then what is it? I get that people don’t usually take me seriously, I’m okay with that — until I’m actually trying to be serious! _This is serious!_ ”

“Of course it is,” Tyler said soothingly, but he didn’t say it like he actually believed it. He said it like he was a concerned adult trying to calm down a frightened child. Dipper was originally drawn to Tyler because he _didn’t_ act like that — he didn’t treat Dipper like just some kid — and yet here he was, doing it now. “I get that you’re scared. I’m worried, too. But everything will work out. We just have to trust that it will.”

“Do you really believe that?” Dipper snapped.

Tyler blinked. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He had no answer.

“Do you _really_ believe that some yellow triangle who appears in your dreams and never gives a straight answer will actually live up to his promises, and that the kid who’s terrified for his sister is just plain wrong, and that the girl up there in the sky”—he jabbed a finger up at Mabel’s moon—“isn’t getting hurt somehow, and that the dagger used to get her up there isn’t dangerous at all, and that the people with _guns_ who tried to _use them_ on innocent people aren’t evil? _Is that what you believe?_ ”

“What’s going on over here?” someone called; Dipper could hear the snow and tree branches crunching as the person drew nearer. He ignored the sounds, staring up at Tyler defiantly.

Tyler’s face closed into a stony wall. “Leave me alone,” he told Dipper. “Don’t come out here and yell at me.”

“I’ll do what I want! You can’t stop me!”

One of Cipher’s servants appeared. “This kid bothering you, Whittaker? You can switch places with me.”

Tyler nodded shortly, turning away from Dipper and walking away.

“Don’t walk away from me!” Dipper yelled after him. He was about to follow when—

“Dipper!” Another person came clomping through the snow — this time from behind Dipper. Robbie came up beside him. “You okay?”

“ _No!_ ” Dipper turned and stomped away.

Robbie followed. Dipper wanted to go find Tyler and yell at him some more, but Robbie guided him back to the Museum. “Go in there and take a breather,” he said. “I know, these guys can be really frustrating. . . .”

“He was acting like Mabel isn’t in danger!” shouted Dipper. He shouted some more things, too, though they weren’t coherent. They passed Wendy, who was standing in a cloud of spray paint fumes, and made it back to the porch. Dipper left Robbie, stomped up the steps back into the house, and slammed the door behind him.

“Dipper?”

Oh, no. It was Pacifica. She stood in the entryway, staring at him with wide eyes.

Dipper didn’t think. He only acted. He pushed Pacifica into the hall and shoved her against the peeling wallpaper. “ _Bring her back!_ ” he screamed in her face. “ _Bring my sister back!_ ”

“Dipper!” Melody ran over and pulled him away from Pacifica. “Pacifica, get back into the parlor,” she said.

Pacifica didn’t even argue. She scrambled away.

Dipper fought against Melody’s grip, but she was firm. “Stop,” she said. “I know you’re hurting. Don’t take it out on anyone else.”

He struggled against her like a child throwing a tantrum in his mother’s arms. “Lemme go!”

She did so, and he stumbled against the sudden lack of resistance. “Please, Dipper,” Melody said quietly, “try to stay calm. You and Gideon have a plan. You’re going to get Mabel back.”

“Do you really believe that?” he snapped, just as he had with Tyler.

Melody took a slow, deep breath. “I want to believe it,” she said. “I hope for it. And I’ve found that the best way for your hopes to happen is if you _make_ them happen. You and Gideon are going to make them happen.”

He glared at her — not because he was mad at her specifically, but because he was trying to process her words. “I shouldn’t have to get Mabel back,” he said. “She should be here, safe.”

“You’re right. She should.”

He waited for Melody to say more, but she didn’t.

Dipper looked down the hall after Pacifica. He wanted to go after her — to throttle her—

Melody put a hand on her shoulder. “Please don’t come back this way,” she said. “Stay in this part of the house, okay?”

“Fine,” he said. He turned and went up the stairs.

He thought he heard Melody call something kind and encouraging after him, but he wasn’t paying attention. When he got the top of the stairs, he saw Gideon, sitting on the window seat in the main part of the attic. “Gideon,” he said, “you’re right.”

“About what?” the boy replied, unsurprised.

“We can’t trust the Order members. It’s dumb to think we can get them to help us.”

Gideon nodded, sucking in a breath. “So, sneaking out it is?”

“Yes,” Dipper said resolutely. “And I have more information that’ll change our plans.”

“Let’s work on that, then,” Gideon said. He got up and grabbed the notepad that had their plan on it and the pen from Dipper’s room, then returned to the window seat. “What did you find out?”

So Dipper started talking. As much as he wanted to just run outside and leave right now, he knew it would help to make a plan. He and Gideon had to give themselves the best chance of escaping the Museum, and that meant generating ideas and working together.

They _would_ escape. Dipper was adamant about that. They’d get out of here, and no stupid servants or Order members would stop them.


	5. Chapter 5

Dipper and Gideon got to work on revising their plan. Dipper was full of restless, angry energy after his encounters with Tyler and Pacifica, and he was so fidgety that Gideon quickly banished him from the window seat. He talked with Gideon from various positions around the attic (standing, sitting, lying down with his legs sticking in the air), and he found himself an extra pen to twirl around his fingers while Gideon used the other pen to make notes.

To start, Dipper told Gideon what Tyler had said about the rift down main street. “It’s like the whole forest is split into islands. Do you remember that sound we heard, during the earthquake? The crunchy asphalt sound? I think that was the street splitting apart.”

Gideon listened with wide eyes. “Well,” he said when Dipper was finished, “I guess we can’t go that way.”

“No, we can’t,” Dipper said. “We’ll have to go to June.” When first making their plans, he and Gideon had come up with two different ways to get the Northwest Manor: either make a break for it across the street and go up to the Manor from there, or leave out the back of the Museum and try to get Juniper the hamadryad’s help in escaping through the trees. They didn’t know how easy it would be to get June’s help, but now it seemed she was their only option.

“You said Tyler described it like islands?” said Gideon. Dipper nodded, and Gideon frowned. “Will June be able to take us through the trees, then?”

“I dunno,” said Dipper, “but if she can’t take us up to the Manor, then I’m sure she can at least take us to someone who will help. Like the minotaurs.”

Gideon pursed his lips. “I don’t want to go to the minotaurs.”

“Why not?”

A guarded expression came over Gideon’s face. “They would stop us from doing anything. Remember how they wouldn’t let us help at all last week? Andrew and Ford insisted on working alone, and Andrew still messed it all up.”

“Messed it up? What do you mean?”

“He spent days putting up this barrier, but Pacifica still got through it in an instant,” Gideon said. “And nobody else could get through to help us, because the barrier blocks out our friends as well as our enemies.”

Dipper folded his arms, his eyes flaring. “It is _not_ Andrew’s fault that Pacifica hurt Mabel. He worked harder than anyone to protect us! I heard him telling Ford once how complicated this barrier spell was compared to other ones he’s seen before, but he still managed to do it for us. Andrew helped us, and he can help us again.”

“I don’t want his help,” Gideon said. “I don’t want to rely on anyone else to rescue Mabel. We’re not going to the minotaurs.”

The boys glared at each other for a moment before Dipper dropped his gaze, sighing. “Fine. Are we still going to ask June for her help?”

Gideon took a calming breath and nodded. “Regardless of what she can do to help us, she’s still our best option. So, how do we get to her tree without getting caught first?”

By “her tree,” Gideon didn’t mean June’s actual tree; that tree was somewhere deep in the forest. He meant the tree behind the Museum that June had been using to transport the Symbols to and from their home. The trees in the forest were connected in the hamadryad network, which allowed the hamadryads and their passengers to move instantly across the forest. June had traveled through one specific tree behind the Museum, so that was the one the boys would go to.

“That tree is smack-dab in the middle of the open space out back,” Dipper said. “Dim light or no, they’d see us coming if we just went right for it. We’ll have to approach from the side, in the trees.”

“Which side?”

“Doesn’t really matter. Let’s do the west side, with the gift shop. When should we try for it? Are the servants out there 24/7?”

“Undoubtedly. I’m sure they have constantly rotating shifts.”

Dipper frowned. “So at least one person is probably catching sleep at any given time. Bill could show up and warn them of what we’re doing, no matter what time we’re doing at.” His frown deepened. “Except. . .” What had Tyler said about Bill, again?

“I don’t think Bill is watching us all the time,” Gideon said. His voice was careful, like he didn’t want to get his hopes up. “Pacifica let slip earlier that she misses Bill, like he hasn’t been visiting her. I don’t think she’s seen him at all since Friday. And I haven’t had nightmares from him since Thursday night.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. . . I mean, I’ve still had nightmares,” he said uncomfortably, “but. . . Bill has a certain style that’s been missing. I’m not entirely sure he’s stopped sending them, but they don’t feel like his nightmares anymore, and he hasn’t come to talk to me at all.”

Dipper nodded thoughtfully. “Tyler told me that he couldn’t talk to Bill right now,” he said. “And he said Bill put the servants in charge, like he wasn’t going to be here himself. Do you really think he’s not watching?”

“I don’t know if he’s watching or not,” said Gideon, “but it sounds like he’s not visiting people. Which is the problem we have.”

“Why would he be watching but not visiting people?”

“Maybe he can’t visit. I don’t know. Pacifica seems to know a lot about it, but she’s not sharing.”

Dipper scowled. Of course she wasn’t. “Well, if the servants and Order members are here all the time, and Bill isn’t visiting anyone, then I guess we can just go whenever we’re ready,” he said.

“We still have to be careful, in case he _is_ visiting people. We have to assume the servants know we’re coming. But yeah, we can probably do it at any time. But we can’t just make a run for it.”

“Why not?”

Gideon held up a finger, like he was about to count off the reasons. “The snow is deep, which slows us down,” he said. Another finger went up as he added, “The snow is _loud_ , so they’ll hear us coming. And”—a third finger went up—"if they grab hold of us while we’re passing through the barrier, then they can push us back through it and get in themselves. And that’s just three reasons.”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “I’m not saying we just run through the open area behind Ford’s lab. I was the one who suggested going through the trees, remember? Why don’t we sneak through the trees, find a spot where no people are, jump through the barrier, and then go to the tree from there?”

“If they catch us before we get there, they’ll still be able to take us back through the barrier and get in themselves,” Gideon said, a touch of exasperation in his voice. “Then they could break into the Museum and get the dagger.”

The dagger was safely hidden in the gift shop, concealed among the usual shelves of trinkets and the displays that had been moved from the Hall of Mysteries. But the best protection for the dagger, Dipper knew, was the magical barrier around the Museum. Their enemies couldn’t be allowed to get through it. 

Still, “There’s a risk of them catching us no matter what,” Dipper pointed out. “My suggestion still sounds like the best way.”

Gideon rubbed at his eyes. “I wish I had my amulet,” he said, not for the first time. “Then we could just fly out of here.”

“What if,” said Dipper as an idea dawned on him, “we went up to the barrier, as close to June’s tree as we can get, and called to her before we even went through? Then she could come, we could run across the barrier, and she could take us just like that!”

“And the servants would hear us, come running, and probably shoot her as soon as she appears.”

“Can bullets hurt her?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out.”

Dipper sighed. “Okay, then, we wait until there’s an Order member standing near her tree. We get the Corduroys to go up and talk to that Order member. And while they’re distracted, we run off.”

“That might work,” Gideon said. “But. . . I like your first idea the best. Sneak through the trees, past the barrier, and go around to June’s tree. Then we can call for her quietly, without the servants even noticing that we’re leaving. I just don’t know if there will be an empty spot for us to go through the barrier.”

“We’ll just have to look,” Dipper said with a shrug.

Melody called them down for lunch a few minutes later, and Dipper quickly told her that they were leaving soon. “We don’t know when, but we’re not really waiting for anything.”

Melody wanted to know the details of their plan to escape, so they told her. Gideon didn’t mention any part of the plan after that, though. On Sunday, the boys had talked about what they would do once they got to the Manor, but Gideon obviously thought Melody didn’t need that information.

“Really, if we can find a chink in their armor, we can just slip out,” Dipper said. “And it’ll be easier to slip out the back than the front anyway, since there are more trees to hide in.”

“Why not go out the front?”

The boys glanced at each other, and Dipper told Melody (and Fidds, who was also eating with them) about the rifts. They were surprised, though they also remembered hearing the asphalt split apart during Friday’s earthquake.

For the rest of the day, Melody helped the boys make backpacks with food and supplies. Dipper hadn’t even thought of that, so he was glad Melody was on their side. After dinner, Dipper was ready to leave right then.

“Can you go in the morning?” Melody asked. “You should get a good night’s sleep first.”

“I don’t think I could sleep tonight anyway,” Dipper said. But Melody made him wait. It didn’t really matter what time they left — there was no sunrise or sunset to visually mark time, anyway — but Melody was adamant about keeping a normal schedule with meals and sleep times. She still thought it best that the boys leave in the morning.

So Dipper spent a restless night trying to get some sleep and mostly failing. Finally, when his clock read five A.M., he gave up. He patted Waddles (the loyal pig had stayed by his side despite his tossing and turning), then got out of bed and turned on a flashlight. By the light of the flashlight and the blue rays from Mabel’s moon that shone through the window, Dipper got dressed, put on his dark red hiking shoes, and checked that everything was in his pack. Sandwiches — check. Water canteen — check. Mabel’s grappling hook — check. He’d used it before to rescue Mabel and Ford, and he’d use it again for the same purpose. A bag of heat mushrooms — check. Flashlight and batteries — check. Stun gun and a handful of knockout patches — check.

He went to the door to his room and paused for a moment, looking around. If all went well, he would be back here soon with Mabel.

His eyes alighted on Mabel’s sketchbook, which was still sitting on her bedside table. Should they take that? He quickly decided that, yes, he would seal it in a waterproof bag, take it with them, and keep it safe. Then Gideon could take it to Mabel once he got his amulet.

She _would_ get it back.

He grabbed the sketchbook and went down the stairs, careful to walk quietly. Gideon was already up and dressed, sitting silently on the couch. “Are you ready?” he whispered to Dipper without a greeting.

“Yeah, but we should wait for Melody to get up,” Dipper whispered. “We’ll want the Corduroys out there, too, to distract some of the Order members.”

Since it would be a few hours before that, Dipper settled on the couch next to Gideon, and they sat together with only their flashlights and the blue light coming in through the window on the door.

“I’ve been thinking,” Gideon said, keeping his voice low so as to not wake the Corduroys or the Valentinos, who were sleeping in the Hall of Mysteries. “About one of your ideas. You said we could go up to the barrier and call to June from there.”

“Yeah,” said Dipper, also quietly. “You want to try that?”

“No, I still think we should stick with our current plan,” said Gideon. “But I’ve been wondering. . . why haven’t any supernatural creatures come to the Museum? Why has it just been us and the enemy?”

Dipper shrugged. “Like Tyler said. . . the forest split into islands. They haven’t been able to get to us.”

“Does that mean June won’t be able to get to us when we call to her?”

Dipper hesitated. “We have to try,” he said.

“I know, but. . . what if she doesn’t come?”

“Someone will,” Dipper said adamantly. “We’ve only met June, but there’s a whole bunch of hamadryads who all hear things through the same trees. Someone will come and help us.”

Gideon was quiet for a moment. “Or maybe they’ve all abandoned us,” he said. “Maybe they’re choosing not to come.”

“Why would they choose not to come? We Symbols are the most important people in the area right now. Don’t get all paranoid.”

Gideon rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, you’re right.”

The boys sat there for a few more hours, both of them dozing on and off, both fully dressed. They were woken up at eight A.M. by Melody, who was smiling at them. “You’re all ready to go, aren’t you?” she said.

“Yes,” said Gideon, getting to his feet and pretending he hadn’t been asleep. “Let’s get some breakfast and get out of here.”

Thirty minutes, one breakfast, and a dozen hugs from Melody later, the boys were finally ready to walk out the door. They went to the gift shop entrance to be closest to the trees they needed to sneak through. Melody went with them, gave them both one last hug (she hugged Gideon very gently, and he seemed to both dislike it and enjoy it at the same time), and told them, for the millionth time, to be careful.

“We will,” Dipper promised.

“Come back with our family,” Melody said.

Dipper nodded. Gideon opened the door, and they quietly stepped outside.

Greg, Janice, and Robbie Corduroy were already outside, fanned along the back part of the barrier to distract the people there. Dipper saw a silhouette in the distance, standing on the path that led to the gift shop, but he and Gideon ignored it as they walked off the gift shop porch and slipped into the shadowy trees.

It was terribly hard to walk quietly through the deep snow around the Museum. Whoever was waiting on the path probably had seen them, and they could probably hear them, too. But Dipper tried not to think about that; he kept walking with Gideon. He had the grappling hook in his hand, ready to launch himself into the trees or destroy a servant’s gun — he’d done similar things in the Order headquarters before, so he felt confident he could do them again.

They stayed close to the edge of the trees, only a few feet away from the clearing behind the Museum. Their pace was slow: They were trying to be quiet, and it was hard to see and avoid the trees in this light. But they’d get to the barrier soon. Then they just had to slip through and sneak away to June’s tree.

Dipper could hear the Corduroys in the distance, talking to someone outside the barrier. He couldn’t make out the words, but it was comforting to know that the Corduroys were there. Would their distraction be enough? He could only hope.

As they walked along further, Gideon tapped Dipper on the arm, pointing to a silhouette in the trees. Oh, no. Someone was standing directly in front of them, guarding the barrier in the exact spot that the boys were hoping to pass through. Gideon led Dipper to the left, further into the trees, in the hope that they could slip through at a different point. They moved until they could just barely see the silhouette (they didn’t see any others, thankfully), and then moved forward carefully, keeping an eye on the figure.

It didn’t move at first. Then the person started walking along the barrier, towards them. “Dipper?” a voice asked in a whisper.

Oh, no. That sounded like Tyler. Dipper shared a look with Gideon (though they couldn’t see each other’s faces very well in this light). What should they do?

“Dipper,” Tyler hissed. It sounded like he was calling to him. Dipper glanced again at Gideon, then decided it was too late; Tyler had already seen them. Dipper walked up to the figure.

“I’m sorry, Dipper,” Tyler whispered. “I shouldn’t have acted the way I did yesterday.”

Yesterday’s anger reappeared in Dipper’s chest; he didn’t say anything, because he’d probably explode again if he did.

“Northwest,” Tyler said in surprise as he looked closer at Gideon. “What are you two. . . ?” He paused, seeing their packs and the grappling hook in Dipper’s hand. “You’re leaving,” he said.

Neither Dipper nor Gideon answered. Would Tyler raise the alarm? Would the Order and the servants stop them?

The three of them stared at each other in wary silence. Tyler didn’t call for help or anything like that. Dipper didn’t know what was going on in the man’s head, but he knew he personally was getting more anxious by the second.

“Go,” Tyler finally said. “I’ll leave and pretend I didn’t see you. Go. . . go save your sister.”

Even in the dim blue light, Dipper could clearly see the surprise on Gideon’s face — and Tyler’s. The man looked shocked that he was offering to help them sneak out. But he did as he said: He moved away, leaving the way open for Dipper and Gideon to safely leave.

Dipper felt a wide smile spread across his face. He took Gideon’s hand and pulled him across the barrier. Thank you, Tyler, he thought. Thank you.

The anxiety turned to relief as Dipper moved through the trees on the other side of the barrier. They were out! They weren’t too far from June’s tree! They could make it! Gideon had to pull Dipper back to stop him from running through the snow. “We’re not safe yet,” he whispered in Dipper’s ear.

Dipper shrugged off the comment. They might as well be. It was only a few more yards to June’s tree.

“Who’s there?” someone called.

Gideon made a frustrated, fearful noise in his throat. “I told you!” he hissed. He grabbed Dipper’s arm and pulled him further into the forest, away from the servants — and away from June’s tree.

“Stop! I’ll shoot!” The voice sounded like that woman who came to interrupt Dipper and Tyler on Sunday. Dipper couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he and Gideon ran away. What happened to “Of course I wouldn’t try to shoot you”?

A gunshot went off. Dipper’s heart leapt to his throat. He had a theory that the Symbols could only die if they were stabbed by the dagger — but he certainly didn’t want to _test_ that theory! The sound of running feet followed the gunshot: The servants were giving chase. Dipper followed Gideon deeper into the forest, even as he knew that the servants would catch up any second. “How are we going to get to June’s tree?” he asked Gideon frantically.

“We’ll have to use another one! She told us she could access any tree if she really tried!” Gideon raised his voice and yelled, “June! Juniper! We need your help!”

Dipper joined in. “June! Or somebody! We need you! We have to travel through the trees!”

More gunshots rang through the forest; one hit a tree not too far from Dipper’s head. “Please, June!” Dipper cried. “Someone help!”

He wondered if he should use the grappling hook to pull Gideon and himself into a tree. But wouldn’t the servants be able to hit them easily if they went up into a tree? Dipper tightened his grip on the grappling hook but didn’t raise it. He just kept calling for help with Gideon — although that was dangerous, too, because it meant the servants easily knew where they were.

There were quite a few times that he slammed into tree branches or even tree trunks as they ran, but he had too much adrenaline to feel the pain. When he or Gideon hit an obstacle, the other would pull him back to his feet, and they’d run on together.

“June, _please_!”

And suddenly someone was there. Hands grabbed Dipper and Gideon and yanked them to the side with superhuman strength. Another gunshot rang out, and Dipper thought he could feel the bullet whiz over his head.

Then their rescuer pulled them into the trees, and the forest disappeared.


	6. Chapter 6

Dipper, Gideon, and the nymph flew through the trees. Dipper felt himself speeding through nothingness; he saw flashes of blue light as the forest rushed by. He had liked this sensation when he’d traveled through the trees with June — but now, in the high tension of their escape, he just wished for it to be over.

He soon stumbled out of another tree. He and Gideon, who had been pulled through at the same time, crashed into each other and landed in a heap.

“I’m sorry!” said the nymph. Was that June? “We usually only take one person at a time — you two haven’t swapped any body parts, have you?”

Gideon scrambled away from Dipper and quickly checked that he had all his limbs. Dipper grabbed the grappling hook, which had fallen nearby, and put it safely in his pack. Then he simply sat there, dazed, remembering the feeling of the wind above his head as the bullet had sped past him.

A hand nudged Dipper’s arm. “Are you okay?” said the nymph, sounding worried.

Dipper blinked and shook his head. “I’m fine. Thank you, Ju. . .” He stopped, looking for the first time at the nymph who had saved them. “Oh, hi,” he said, “what’s your name?”

The nymph — who definitely wasn’t June, though she was similarly tall and willowy — blinked. “Oh. I’m, um. . .” She thought for a moment, fiddling with a strand of her blonde hair. “Call me Cedar.”

“Thank you, Cedar,” Gideon said. He winced and put a hand to his head, which had had its fair share of collisions with trees as the boys had run through the forest. “Anything you can do for a headache?”

“You two look pretty scratched up,” Cedar said. “I can help with that.”

“How would you do that?” Gideon asked.

“I’ll take you into my tree and heal your injuries,” Cedar said. “With minor injuries like you have, it’ll only be a few minutes each.”

“Sounds great,” Dipper said. So Cedar took him into her tree, healed him with her magic, and brought him back out a few minutes later. The scratches and bruises healed easily, and being inside the tree felt calm and peaceful.

“Your turn,” she said to Gideon.

He shook his head. “I’m fine. My headache is already fading.”

Dipper frowned, but Gideon didn’t look at him. “Are you sure?” Cedar asked.

“I’m sure.”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself. Are you two going up to the Northwest Manor?”

Dipper and Gideon shared a look. “How’d you know?” Dipper asked.

“I can see some of your thoughts when you’re inside my tree,” Cedar told him. “You were thinking about going up to the Northwest Manor. To get something.” She looked at Gideon, her eyes lingering on his white hair. “Are you a Northwest?”

“Yes,” Gideon said. “My amulet is at the Manor, and we’re going to get it.”

Cedar pursed her lips. “I can’t get to the Manor from here,” she said. “The rifts disrupted the tree network. I can only take you to trees in this same section of the forest.”

“Is that why June didn’t come?” asked Dipper.

Cedar nodded. “She’s in a different area. I can’t even see her tree.” She shuddered a bit. “We can usually see the entire forest. It’s so strange to be cut off from most of it.”

Gideon and Dipper shared a look. “Any other ideas, then, on how we can get to the Manor?” said Gideon. “Surely there’s a way to fly over the rifts.”

Cedar thought for a moment. “Yes,” she said, as if to herself. “I think I can access her tree.”

“Whose tree?” said Dipper.

Cedar held out a hand. “Another hamadryad. You can call her. . . Ivy. Now, who wants to go first?”

Dipper volunteered, so Cedar took him through the trees to another part of the forest. As they went, Dipper somehow felt that Cedar was communicating with someone else in the tree network, although he couldn’t hear any words.

As Dipper left the trees, a new person caught him. “Hi,” said a female voice. “I’m. . . wait, what did Cedar say to call me, again?”

“Ivy,” Dipper said, getting his balance and smiling at this new hamadryad. She had curly black hair and dark skin like warm earth. “Hi, I’m Dipper.”

“Hi, Dipper,” Ivy said with a smile. “Cedar said you needed to borrow some of my perytons.”

Dipper frowned. “Pery-what?”

At that moment, Cedar and Gideon appeared. “Perytons,” Ivy said, with a welcoming smile at Gideon. “I watch over a herd of perytons, and you’re welcome to ask for their help.”

“You mean winged deer?” said Gideon, his eyes lighting up. “Really?”

Ivy nodded and beckoned for them to follow her. Cedar said goodbye; the boys thanked her again, and she disappeared. Dipper and Gideon followed Ivy through the trees, and Dipper got increasingly excited to see these winged deer.

“Is Ivy not your real name?” asked Dipper as they went. She and Cedar were acting weird about name, like they had to make up fake ones.

Gideon answered before Ivy. “The Journal says they don’t want to share their real names with humans,” he said.

Ivy smiled. “Yes, our real names are private. Not least because you wouldn’t be able to pronounce them,” she said with a wink at Dipper.

Dipper hardly caught the wink. He was too busy raising his eyebrows at Gideon. Gideon just shrugged, and Dipper smirked. What a nerd.

“The perytons are usually close to my tree,” Ivy remarked, “but sometimes they go off like this. When we find them, I’ll call two of them to you, and you’ll wait for them to come. Then give them a little bow to show respect, and explain that you would be grateful if they could help you fly around the forest. They’ll understand you.”

“Will they respond?” Dipper asked.

Gideon gave a quiet, rude snort. Ivy laughed. “No,” she said, “they don’t speak aloud. But they listen, and they’re great at communicating mind-to-mind.”

Soon, they could see silhouettes of the perytons through the trees. It was a lot darker here, in the middle of the forest, than it had been in the open space around the Museum. Dipper squinted, trying to make out the perytons in detail.

“Stay here,” Ivy said softly. The boys stopped, and Ivy went forward to greet the perytons. Dipper watched as a peryton touched her hand with its nose, and she stroked its wing. She spoke softly to the perytons, and a few of them raised their heads to look at Dipper and Gideon. Their black eyes glinted.

Then Ivy said something, and two of the perytons spread their wings out halfway, shaking them and dislodging a few feathers. Ivy started walking back to the boys, and the two perytons followed.

Dipper’s eyes widened in delight as the perytons drew closer. They were _beautiful._ They had tawny brown winter coats and grey or brown wings with huge feathers. Dipper wanted to run up and bury his face in one of those fuzzy necks, but he refrained. Ivy said they had to show respect.

“Here they are,” Ivy said, “Dipper and. . .”

“Gideon,” said Gideon, bowing slightly to the perytons. Dipper followed suit.

The perytons nodded their graceful heads and stepped closer, reaching their heads out as if inviting the boys to pat their necks.

Dipper didn’t hesitate. He reached out and gently rubbed the neck of the doe in front of him. “You’re beautiful,” he said. “Will you help us? We need to fly to the Northwest Manor.”

Beside them, Gideon was patting the other peryton, a buck with impressive antlers and smoky grey wings. “I can feel them,” Gideon said quietly, his voice awed. “They’re agreeing to help us.”

Dipper could feel it, too: a calm assurance emanating from the doe, telling him that it would be okay, the perytons would help. “Woah,” he said. “Cool.”

Ivy smiled like a proud mother. “Explain to them exactly what you need,” she said, “so they know what they’re agreeing to.”

So the boys explained: They would go up to the Northwest Manor, stay nearby until they’d retrieved the amulet and the Pines brothers, and then go back to the Mystery Museum. Gideon would fly with his amulet once he got it, so he only needed a ride to the Manor. “Can you carry me and one of my grunkles at the same time?” Dipper asked the perytons. They nodded.

“It’ll be dangerous,” Gideon told them bluntly. “I don’t know how much security the Manor has. At the very least, there are ten servants there who all know how to use a gun. Plus ten more servants at the Museum, also with guns. They won’t hesitate to shoot you, so we’ll have to be careful.”

The perytons responded with a determination to help them regardless. “You’re doing this to fight against Cipher, aren’t you?” said Ivy.

Gideon nodded. “We’re saving Mabel from the spell she’s in. It’ll stop the township from moving. And we’re rescuing Dipper’s uncles from the Manor. We’re getting all ten Symbols together.”

Ivy smiled. “Then the perytons are willing to help,” she said, and the perytons nodded again.

Dipper stroked the doe’s wing in gratitude. “Do they have names?” he asked suddenly. “What should we call you?” he asked the doe.

“They don’t have verbal names,” said Ivy.

“Can I give you names?” Dipper asked the perytons.

A sense of amusement came to him from the perytons. They nodded.

He grinned. “Awesome! I’ll call you. . . Marigold,” he said to the doe. “And you can be Rowan,” he told the buck.

From the feelings Dipper sensed from the perytons, they liked those names.

“Great,” said Gideon with a slight roll of his eyes. “I’ll ride Rowan. You ride Marigold. Is it okay if we leave right now?”

The perytons agreed. They stepped forward, bending their front legs and exposing their backs. Dipper and Gideon climbed up and sat just behind their wing joints.

“Thank you, Ivy, for your help!” Dipper said to the hamadryad.

“Of course,” Ivy said, smiling. “I wish you the best.”

“We’ll stop this,” Gideon promised. “We won’t let Cipher get any closer to his dimension.”

“I’ll support you,” Ivy replied.

“Wait, Ivy, could you come with us?” asked Dipper. “Help us out at the Manor with your magic?”

Ivy shook her head. “Hamadryads belong on the ground, near the trees. I could lose my connection to my tree and die if I flew with you. I’ll have to stay here, but if there’s anything I can do in this section of the forest, let me know.”

Dipper and Gideon shared a glance. “Any invisibility magic you could give us?” Gideon asked.

“Sadly, no.”

“Then I can’t think of anything, unless you want to do something to sabotage the servants and Order members around the Mystery Museum.” Gideon glanced to Dipper. “You ready?”

“Ready,” said Dipper. “Thanks again, Ivy.”

“You’re welcome.”

Dipper gave the hamadryad one last smile. Then, flapping their big wings, the perytons ran across the snow, pushed off the ground, and flew into the air.

~~~~~

Dipper and Gideon were gone, and Pacifica was terrified for them.

She wasn’t supposed to know they were gone. Breakfast had been later than usual today, but Pacifica hadn’t thought much of it. (It didn’t much matter when breakfast was, since there was no day or night, not anymore.) But when Pacifica had followed Melody to the kitchen, something had felt different. And then she saw Melody crying.

It’s not that Pacifica cared about Melody. She didn’t. But she was curious, so she’d asked why Melody was crying. The woman had been hesitant, but Pacifica had badgered her until she answered: She was crying because Dipper and Gideon had left. They’d gone into danger, all in hopes of rescuing Mabel.

Pacifica hadn’t finished her breakfast. She’d thrown a tantrum instead. Melody had sent her back to the parlor, where she’d cried and thrown things (though she only had soft things, like bedding, to throw around — not very effective) and blown off steam. Waddles was there — the pig was spending an unusual amount of time with Pacifica, and no amount of screaming or throwing things could drive him away. Pacifica tried anyway, all the while crying about Dipper and Gideon.

They couldn’t go. They couldn’t rescue Mabel! Pacifica was supposed to help them see the truth, help them throw off Mabel’s evil influence. If the boys saved Mabel, she’d just hurt them all over again! Not to mention they could get seriously hurt in the attempt. It was infinitely better to have them here — even if Gideon insisted on interrogating Pacifica, and Dipper avoided her and lashed out at her. Better that than rescuing Mabel.

Pacifica’s tantrum ran out energy, and she stood there in the shadows, breathing heavily. The parlor was dark — the only light came from Mabel’s moon, shining through the windows. Pacifica had thought of escaping through them, but she was scared of breaking the glass and hurting herself. She couldn’t make herself intangible and phase out of the Museum, either: She didn’t have her grandfather’s notes on hexal magic, or a way to ink her skin. But escape wasn’t urgent at the moment, especially because the dagger was here in the Museum, hidden somewhere. If Pacifica could find the dagger while here, then she could return it to Bill when she escaped.

But the dagger wasn’t in this room, and Pacifica didn’t think Melody would allow her to go anywhere else. She sighed. There was nothing to see, nothing to do here, unless she wanted to pet the stupid pink pig that _still_ wouldn’t go away. Pacifica threw herself onto the air mattress and lay there in silence.

This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. With time, Dipper was supposed to see reason and join Pacifica’s side. Then he and Pacifica (and Gideon and Lincoln) would help Bill get to his dimension, where they’d all live in peace. Pacifica tried to be patient — even when Dipper attacked her yesterday, she tried not to let it get to her. He would calm down soon enough.

But not if he went to rescue Mabel. She would undo all of Pacifica’s progress.

Pacifica lay there, tears drying on her face, and tried to think of happy things. She imagined the peace and happiness she’d have with her loved ones when they got to Bill’s dimension. Surely it’d be wonderful. Surely they’d have everything they wanted. Buoyed by this thought, Pacifica began to wipe the tears from her face.

“You really think you’ll live long enough to see Bill’s dimension?” said a derisive voice.

Pacifica froze.

“Every time I think you can’t get any more stupid, you still manage to surprise me,” the voice continued. “And look at you. Hiding away in the Mystery Museum, crying because your _precious friends_ abandoned you.”

The initial shock passed, and Pacifica leapt to her feet. “No,” she whispered, backing up against the wall and almost tripping over Waddles. Her eyes searched the shadowed darkness of the parlor. “No, no, no. . .”

“Oh, yes.” From the shadows came an all-too-familiar figure. “Oh, yes, Pacifica,” said Spirit Mabel. “I told you you’d never get rid of me, didn’t I?”

“No!” Pacifica pressed her hands over her eyes. “No, you’re not here! You’re up in the sphere in the sky! You’re dying!”

“No, I’m not,” Spirit Mabel said. Her voice was far too calm. “Of course I’m not. _Mabel_ is dying, yes. You made sure of that. But _I_ am not Mabel.”

Pacifica peeked through her fingers. “What?”

Spirit Mabel folded her arms and smirked. “What an idiot. Did you _really_ think that Mabel — scared, innocent Mabel — was _me_? But of course you did. You wanted something external to fight against. You wanted to distract yourself from the _internal_ threat.”

“What internal threat?” Pacifica demanded. She was still in shock, still terrified — but Spirit Mabel was standing on the other side of the room, and the distance helped just a bit.

“ _Me_ , of course,” said Spirit Mabel. “Oh, I _pretended_ I was Mabel. I played along with your little fantasies of revenge against a false enemy. But then you defeated that enemy, didn’t you? You really believed I was gone, so I left for a few days. But now I’m back, Pacifica. And I can finally show you who I _really_ am.”

Pacifica pressed herself against the wall, wishing desperately that she could phase through it, the way she’d phased through walls last Friday. But she had no hexal magic to help her now. She was stuck. She could try to run from the room, but Spirit Mabel was standing near the door; Pacifica didn’t dare go near her, whether or not the spirit was corporeal.

It seemed Spirit Mabel was waiting. Waiting for Pacifica to say something. So, even though she hated it, Pacifica asked, “And who are you, really?” in the most disinterested voice she could.

Spirit Mabel grinned. The grin looked too big for a human face. Pacifica immediately regretted saying anything.

Then Spirit Mabel began to change. The skin on her face melted, running down her orange hoodie in streams. Then the hoodie started to drip, too. Soon, Spirit Mabel’s entire body melted like a candle under a hot flame. The dripping skin and clothes fell to the floor, revealing another figure beneath.

“I’m _you_ ,” the figure said.

She looked like Pacifica. She had Pacifica’s favorite elaborate hairstyle. She wore Pacifica’s psychic show outfit — an outfit Pacifica had left at the Northwest Manor when she’d gone to get the dagger. But the dress looked different: Its bright purple was now a dark indigo, and the yellow moons were dull. It also seemed to be dripping around the edges.

And her face. Instead of eyes, this new shade had deep black spheres in her eye sockets. Similar to Pacifica’s psychic look, she had long eyelashes — they were silver against the blackness of her eyes — and dark purple eyeshadow. Somehow, there was more personality in those black eyes — a dark, hateful personality — than Pacifica had ever seen. The shade’s mouth curled in a vindictive smile as Pacifica stared in horror at her eyes.

“Do you like it?” the shade said. “This is what you really look like, Pacifica. I’m you. I’m a more _authentic_ version of you than you are yourself.”

“No,” Pacifica whispered.

“Saying ‘no’ doesn’t change me,” Shadow Pacifica said. “You created me, you know. Every time you pushed away a rational thought. . . every time you wondered, ‘Is Mabel really evil?’ but dismissed the idea. . . every time, those thoughts helped build me. Every time you assured yourself that you were in the right, the truth that you were in the wrong became _me_. I know how terrible you are, Pacifica, because you pushed all the terrible things into me.”

“But—” Pacifica couldn’t look away from those horrible eyes. “But you were Mabel. You _told me_ you were Mabel!”

“Because that’s what you wanted to hear!” said Shadow Pacifica with a laugh. “How could I get it through your thick skull that you were wrong? I couldn’t! You forced me — however subconsciously — to play the part of your enemy. You would rather deal with her than deal with _me_.”

“But — but—”

“But, but, but,” Shadow Pacifica repeated mockingly. “Looks like I’ve broken poor Pacifica.” Her silver eyelashes glinted over her soulless eyes. “Well, since I have your attention, I’ll go back to the original reason I came. _You_ were foolishly thinking that Bill would let you live in his dimension.”

Pacifica didn’t know what she thought anymore. But she drew herself up and put her hands on her hips. “Yes, that’s what I think,” she said stubbornly. “He’s been good to me, and there’s no reason why he wouldn’t share his home.”

“Unless you’re dead,” said Shadow Pacifica, “which is a prerequisite to his getting home. Weren’t you paying attention to what Gideon has been telling you for the past five days? Bill needs _all_ of his Symbols to die in order to get home. Oh wait,” she said, sneering, “you _weren’t_ paying attention. You gave that information to me so you wouldn’t have to deal with it.”

“Bill thanked me for my help on Friday,” Pacifica said. “He’s grateful to me. He wouldn’t kill me.”

“Oh, please,” the shade said. “He can be grateful and still want you dead. I’m sure he’ll be plenty thankful to you while he’s killing you. He’ll finish killing Mabel, and once he gets his hands on the dagger, he’ll come after you. He’ll go after Dipper, after Gideon, after Lincoln. You _all_ will die, and you should just hope he gets you first, so you don’t have to lose your friends one by one.”

Pacifica stared at her in horror.

“Or,” Shadow Pacifica continued, “I suppose it would be more fitting if he saved you for last. Or second-to-last, since Lincoln probably has to be last. But you certainly deserve to see everyone you care about die because of your own stupid, deluded mistakes.”

“Stop!” Pacifica shouted. “Stop talking about — about dying! Stop it!”

Shadow Pacifica paused, raising her eyebrows. “Why should I? You sent Mabel to die. You seem just fine talking about _that_.”

“Because Mabel is — she’s—”

“Evil?” Shadow Pacifica laughed cruelly. “No, she’s not. She never was. _You_ are the evil one, Pacifica.”

“ _No!_ ” With a guttural cry, Pacifica ran for the door, flinging it open and running out before Shadow Pacifica could do anything to stop her. Waddles squealed in surprise at the sudden movement, but Pacifica ignored him. She ran down the hall, her socks slipping dangerously on the cold wooden floor. She didn’t know where she was going. Out to Cipher’s servants? Could she trust them?

Why was she suddenly doubting them?

“Hiding from me is only going to make it worse,” Shadow Pacifica called after her. Pacifica looked over her shoulder to see the shade floating behind her. “You have to face me, Pacifica.”

“Pacifica? What’s wrong?” From the kitchen, Melody saw Pacifica running down the hall. She put down the mug she was holding and ran to meet Pacifica. Her body blocked the front door; Pacifica didn’t know if she was relieved or angered by that.

“She’s back.” Pacifica didn’t want to say anything to Melody, but she found herself babbling. “She’s back, she’s back, and she’s worse than ever—”

“Who’s back?” Melody asked. She put an arm around Pacifica and guided her to the living room couch. Pacifica stumbled alongside her. “Come sit with me,” Melody said gently. The tears on her face from earlier were gone. Pacifica’s tears, however, were starting up again.

Pacifica curled up next to Melody and buried her face in the woman’s side, trying to avoid seeing Shadow Pacifica. “Please,” she whispered into Melody’s shirt. “Leave me alone. Please.”

“You want me to leave you alone?” Melody asked.

“No!” Well, yes, a part of Pacifica wanted Melody to leave her alone. She was mortally embarrassed to act this way around her. But she was too concerned with hiding from her shade, so she clung to Melody regardless.

“She’s a good resource,” Shadow Pacifica said. “But she won’t solve your problems. You have to solve your own problems, Pacifica. You have to own up to the evil you’ve done. You have to see Bill for who he really is. You have to _fight him_.”

Pacifica bristled at this; and, heedless of Melody beside her, she whipped around to face Shadow Pacifica. “You’re not me!” she insisted. “You can’t be! I would never think of fighting Bill!”

“But you _have_ ,” Shadow Pacifica insisted. Her soulless eyes were only inches from Pacifica’s face. “Even if you didn’t consciously know it, you’ve thought about fighting Bill. That thought became part of me, because you didn’t want it. I’m the one who sees the truth about him! The truth you deliberately ignored!”

“ _Liar!_ ”

“Pacifica, please,” Melody said, “will you tell me what’s going on? Who are you talking to?”

“She’s talking to herself,” Shadow Pacifica answered, though Pacifica knew Melody couldn’t hear. “She’s talking to a manifestation of her mind.”

“No! You are _not_ my mind!” Pacifica’s hands clenched into fists; the motion pulled at Melody’s shirt.

“What else could I be?” said the shade. “A trick from Bill? I’m not. I wondered if I was made by Bill, back when I was Mabel. But no, I was made entirely from your twisted mind. Everything Spirit Mabel said to you was from your own thoughts. Everything _I_ say to you is from your own thoughts. And I say that you’re an evil, terrible person who gladly sent an innocent girl to her death. Are you ready to admit that yet?”

Pacifica had no idea how to answer that. She just buried her head in Melody’s shirt again. Melody, confused, drew the girl close. She didn’t ask any more questions. She just held Pacifica in her arms.

“Looks like you’re not ready,” Shadow Pacifica said. “Well, we have time. Once the boys rescue Mabel — if they can — they’ll bring her back here. And they’re going to try to rescue Ford and Lincoln, too. When everybody gets here, you need to be ready to join the Cipher Wheel.”

“I won’t,” Pacifica whispered. But the words felt hollow.

“You will,” said the shade, “or else spend the rest of your short, pathetic life in misery.” A moment passed in ugly silence. Then Shadow Pacifica said, “I’ll leave you now. Cry on Melody’s shoulder all you want. But I’ll be back, Pacifica, and soon. I refuse to let you die without a full understanding of all the bad things you’ve done.”

Then there was silence. Pacifica didn’t dare look up for quite some time; but when she did, she found that Shadow Pacifica was gone. Only Pacifica and Melody were in the room.

“Pacifica?” said Melody quietly. “Can you explain to me what’s going on? If you don’t want to share, I won’t force you. But I want to help you.”

Pacifica looked into her eyes. Did she really want to help? Wasn’t she keeping Pacifica prisoner here? Wasn’t she on the wrong side?

Wasn’t Pacifica on the right side? Bill’s side?

Melody waited patiently for Pacifica to answer. Finally, “I don’t know how to explain,” Pacifica said, her voice quiet and broken.

More silence. Melody held Pacifica close.

“Am I. . .” Pacifica hesitated. “Am I evil?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she winced. Of course Melody thought she was evil. Why was she asking? She shouldn’t have said anything.

Melody didn’t answer for a long moment. She was probably shocked that Pacifica would ask such an obvious question. But then she opened her mouth, and her response was not what Pacifica was expecting. “No,” she said. “You. . . you’ve done some very hurtful things, Pacifica. But I don’t think you’re evil.”

Pacifica blinked in surprise. “You don’t?”

“No. I don’t think humans are inherently evil. Even when they do evil things.” There was a pause. “I think Bill Cipher is evil, though.”

Pacifica felt the urge to roll her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of shame. Was Bill really evil? Shadow Pacifica certainly seemed to think so. So did Mabel. So did. . . so did Dipper. Could they all be right, and Pacifica wrong?

No. That thought was too terrifying. If Pacifica was _wrong_ , then. . .

She squeezed her eyes shut. “It hurts,” she whispered.

“I know,” Melody whispered back, although she probably didn’t know what “it” was. Or did she? Did Pacifica?

Pacifica didn’t know. She didn’t know anything anymore. She only wanted to sit here in Melody’s arms — because even if Melody wasn’t the ideal person, at least she was _someone_. At least she was willing to hold Pacifica as she cried.

Everything was so confusing. It hurt so much.

Pacifica’s tears returned in full force, and she cried there on the couch, wrapped in Melody’s arms.


	7. Chapter 7

Gideon felt a nervous nausea in his stomach that had nothing to do with the height.

He sat on the peryton’s back — on Rowan’s back. (It was a good name for the buck, Gideon had to admit. Dipper was pretty creative.) Rowan and the other peryton, Marigold, flew above the forest, headed for the Northwest Manor. Gideon had, of course, flown before with his amulet, and he wasn’t one to get nauseous from heights. No, the nausea was from a different reason entirely.

“Dipper,” he called over the wind, though he knew it was inconvenient to talk to him while they were flying. “Dipper, do you remember the plan?”

Dipper nudged Marigold to come down closer to Gideon and Rowan. “You don’t want me to talk to anyone,” he said, rolling his eyes just a bit. “I know.”

Gideon nodded. When they’d first made their plan, Gideon had asked Dipper not to say anything to anyone at the Northwest Manor unless Gideon told him to. He’d requested the same thing last week, when the boys had gone out to talk to the servants together, and Dipper had failed then. Gideon could only hope that he would hold his tongue this time.

Because Gideon probably had to face his father. And he didn’t want Dipper making a bad situation worse.

“It’ll be okay,” Dipper said. “Your mother will be there. We can talk to her.”

Yes, that was the best case scenario: that Gideon would find Geneva first, that she’d know where the amulet was, and that she’d get it for him. But, knowing his luck, he doubted it would be so easy. Gideon worried that he was running right back into his father’s custody, and he wouldn’t be able to save Mabel from there. He wouldn’t be able to save _himself_ from there.

He wanted to talk more to Dipper — remind him of all the details of their plan — but it was hard to hold a conversation while flying. So Gideon focused on the scenery instead, patting Rowan’s neck absentmindedly as he watched the forest below.

He also kept an eye on the sphere above. Mabel’s moon was still far above them, but this was the closest Gideon had been to it so far. The cracks along the surface were bright and imposing, and it seemed as if the moon were about to fall from the sky and crash right on top of the perytons. Would Gideon ever get up there? How much time did Mabel have left?

The stars in the sky weren’t helping, either. They were beautiful, but they were just a reminder that this sky wasn’t Gideon’s own. Partway through their flight, the stars disappeared, and another set of stars — big pink stars — replaced them.

They were in yet another dimension. They were even farther from home.

The perytons didn’t falter when the stars disappeared, nor when the new ones appeared. They kept flying beneath Mabel’s moon, using its soft blue light as a guide. Gideon thought he could see, in the shadowy distance, the Northwest Manor atop its hill.

The nausea in his stomach increased.

They approached the Manor far too quickly. Gideon pushed back his nervousness and spoke quietly to Rowan. “We’re going to land on the roof,” he said. Flying in on perytons would be much safer and more effective than any of their original plans (most of which had involved the grappling hook). Gideon continued, “Can you fly up and then go straight down onto the Manor? I don’t want anyone to see us approaching. We need to land right by my parents’ balcony, which is the highest one on the building, so Dipper and I can jump down and get in. It’s on the opposite side from us.”

Rowan sent back a feeling of understanding and a promise that he would communicate the instructions to Marigold. He then told Gideon that, if they were coming from above, it was best to land in a descending spiral pattern.

Gideon could hear Dipper talking quietly to Marigold, too, and he wondered if the doe was telling him the instructions. Then Dipper turned and gave Gideon a thumbs-up. Gideon sent back his own thumbs-up. It was really helpful to have helpers that communicated with their minds — no risk of being overheard by their enemies.

The perytons flew up higher and higher until the Northwest Manor was lost in the shadows. “Can you still see it?” Gideon asked Rowan. The peryton gave a silent _yes_ , then a suggestion that Gideon hold on.

Rowan and Marigold started their descent in a tight downward spiral. It wasn’t too fast, but it was steep, and Gideon leaned down close to Rowan’s neck to avoid slipping off. Soon, he could see the Manor again, including his parents’ balcony. The perytons headed for the portion of roof near the balcony and landed a few yards from the edge. They bent forward to allow the boys to slip off.

Once Dipper got his footing on the snowy roof, he gave Marigold a big hug around her neck. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Gideon ran a hand over Rowan’s grey wings, then said softly, “We’ll drop onto the balcony, and I think we’ll be able to get back up with the grappling hook. Can you two wait up here?” The peryton nodded, and Gideon smiled. “Thanks. Hey, Dip, the balcony doors are glass. Do you think you can lay on the roof and drop your head down to look into the room?”

Dipper glanced down at the snow on the roof. “Not on that. Can you help me move it out of the way?”

Gideon rolled his eyes but did as Dipper asked. With their gloves on, the boys pushed the snow aside (making sure none fell off the edge) until there was a clear spot big enough for Dipper to lay on. Dipper got down on his stomach and shivered as he came into contact with the cold, wet roof. “Hold onto my ankles,” he said to Gideon. “I don’t wanna fall.”

Once Gideon was holding his ankles, Dipper grabbed onto the edge of the roof and lowered his head down. After a few seconds, he came back up. “I don’t see anyone in there,” he said. “I think it’s clear.”

“Think you’ll be okay dropping down to the balcony?” Gideon asked.

“Sure. How will we get back up, the grappling hook?”

Gideon didn’t know if he trusted the grappling hook to hold his weight, but he said, “Yeah, until I get my amulet.”

“Are you guys gonna be okay standing on the roof for hours?” Dipper asked the perytons.

They’d be fine, Rowan told him, with their winter coats and their wings. He just hoped the boys would be safe.

“Me, too,” Gideon said softly. “Thank you, Rowan.”

“Wait, we should at least clear more snow away so the perytons can sit down,” Dipper said. “C’mon, Gideon.” He started pushing snow away to make a spot for the perytons. Gideon joined in, and soon there was a patch of roof big enough for both the perytons to sit on.

The perytons thanked them, and the boys went to the edge of the roof and dropped a few feet onto the balcony. “Okay,” Gideon said quietly, “let’s get in. I don’t think the door will be locked.” Geneva disliked the cold, but Gaston liked to come out onto the balcony at all times of year, so he probably would’ve unlocked it earlier today to come out. Gideon tried the door. It opened easily.

“This way,” he whispered to Dipper, leading him into the room and closing the door softly behind them. The room was shadowed: No lights were on, and the dim light from outside wasn’t much even with the room’s glass balcony doors and large windows. Geneva had an old-fashioned dressing screen in the corner, and Gideon and Dipper moved behind it. They were hidden from view if anyone came to the door.

“Do you think your amulet is in here?” Dipper whispered.

“Probably not, but we might be able to search later. For now, we’re just waiting for someone to come in.”

“Your mother.”

“Yes.” What was the likelihood that Geneva would come first, and not Gaston or a servant? Strangely enough, Gideon found himself dreading the servants more than Gaston — the servants were dutifully loyal to Bill Cipher, and Gaston’s loyalty to the demon wasn’t nearly as deep. Whether that would convince the man to give Gideon his amulet, Gideon didn’t know, but he knew that the servants _definitely_ wouldn’t give it to him. They would capture the boys the moment they had the chance.

Gideon and Dipper sat down and waited in silence. Gideon’s anxiety ratcheted up as he sat there. Was this really the smartest plan? Should they let anyone see them? But how would they get Gideon’s amulet without help? Gideon didn’t think either he or Dipper could sneak through the Manor halls without getting caught.

The silence dragged on. Dipper fidgeted next to Gideon, and it was all Gideon could do not to snap at him to sit still.

Finally, they heard footsteps in the hall. They were light footsteps; their owner was walking on the balls of their feet. Gideon had memorized the sound of people’s footsteps as a defense mechanism, and these ones sounded like Geneva’s. Could he be that fortunate? Was his mother really coming?

“No, I’ll be fine,” a female voice called. Geneva’s voice. “I just need to lay down. These headaches, you know.”

The door opened, and Geneva came in. Gideon heard the click of a light switch, and dim yellow lights turned on overhead (much dimmer than usual, since they were running on generator power). Geneva went over to the bed and lay down with a sigh.

Dipper looked at Gideon with a question in his eyes. Should they reveal themselves now?

Gideon hesitated. He didn’t hear any other footsteps in the hall, and it sounded like Geneva had planned to be alone for a while. But was it really wise to talk to her? Fourteen years of living with his mother, and Gideon still didn’t know where her loyalties lay; he didn’t even know what she knew — or how she felt — about Gaston’s abusive behavior towards Gideon. Would she be willing to help Gideon now, or would he and Dipper have to get out of here as quickly as they came?

He forced himself to take a deep (silent) breath. The perytons were right outside. Gideon and Dipper could easily leave if they had to. And they’d already calculated that talking to Geneva was their best chance. Or rather, Gideon had calculated; Dipper didn’t know anything about Gideon’s relationship with his parents, and Gideon had no inclination to tell him.

He nodded to Dipper, then held up a hand. _Stay here_. Gideon would talk to Geneva himself.

Dipper motioned for Gideon to get out there.

Nervously, Gideon stood. He didn’t want to scare Geneva — he knew how easily she startled. So he decided to talk to her before he showed himself to her.

“Mother?” he said.

The bedspread rustled as Geneva sat upright. “Gideon?” she said.

“I’m here, Mother. Don’t yell for anyone, all right?” Gideon stepped into her view.

Geneva was sitting on her bed and staring at him through the low lights. “Gideon. . . is that really you?” she whispered.

“Yes.” Gideon stepped forward slowly. “I need to speak with you.”

Geneva got to her feet and rushed to Gideon. “Gideon — my son—” She didn’t touch him, but Gideon could see the tears in her eyes. “I’ve missed you so much,” she said. “I know — I know why you ran away, but—”

“You do?” asked Gideon. If Gaston were here, Gideon wouldn’t have dared interrupt Geneva, but Gaston wasn’t here.

“Yes,” Geneva said sadly. “Yes, I do. You’re so much braver than I, to go and tell the Pines the truth about Lincoln. And I’m glad you got to stay with the Pines afterward, because I’m sure it was much. . . much safer than here.”

It was. Gideon had never felt so welcome and loved in his life than in these past twelve days, staying with the Pines.

“Why are you back here?” asked Geneva. Her brow furrowed. “How did you get here from the Museum? Isn’t there a huge rift?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Gideon said. The less people who knew about the perytons, the better.

Although, if the mansion’s cameras had seen them. . . and if Bill knew. . . “Mother,” Gideon said, his voice suddenly urgent. “Mother, how much generator power do we have for our security system? And have you seen Lincoln here? Is Bill possessing him?”

“I don’t think our security system is working at all right now,” said Geneva. “No cameras, no alarms. As for Lincoln. . . I haven’t seen him, but your father says Bill is possessing Lincoln at all times now. Poor man.”

Gideon’s eyes widened. “At all times?” So he couldn’t see anything that was going on outside of the Manor? He didn’t know that Gideon and Dipper were here?

Geneva nodded again. “That’s what your father says. Bill spends all day in the guest room on the second floor, meditating in Lincoln’s body. The servants bring him food, and he uses the guest bathroom, and no one else sees him. He even sleeps in Lincoln’s body, I’ve heard.”

The thought of Bill doing normal human things like eating and sleeping was a very, very strange one. Why would he stay in Lincoln’s body at all times? Didn’t he need to spy on his Symbols? “And he never leaves Lincoln’s body?” Gideon asked. “Never?”

Geneva shook her head. “Your father got in an argument with the servants the other day — the ones that are left, anyway. He said they were shirking their duties, but the servants just laughed at him. They said that serving their lord while he was stuck in human form was more important than serving us.” Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper, although they’d already been talking quietly. “They’re more fanatic than some of the worst Order members,” she said. Then her face turned red, like she was saying something she had never dared say out loud.

Gideon kept his face neutral, though he was surprised to hear Geneva talk like that. “’Stuck in human form,’” he murmured. Did that mean that Bill was trapped in Lincoln’s body? That would make it all but impossible to rescue Lincoln. . . .

He pushed the thought away. “Did you know?” he asked Geneva. “Did you know the servants worked for Bill?”

“No, I didn’t. Of course, the Northwests and their servants have worked with the Order for over a century, but I didn’t know our servants worked with Bill personally.” She sighed. “It’s been terrible since they revealed their loyalty to Bill. They still make us food and keep us fairly comfortable during this blackout, but they’ve made it very clear that they serve Bill first. I think they’d try to kick us out of our own house if Bill told them to.”

Geneva loved her comforts, Gideon knew. The servants weren’t at her beck and call anymore, and it was clearly wearing her down. Despite her nice clothes, beautiful room, and good food, she looked miserable.

“Well,” Geneva said, “enough about me. Why did you come back?”

Gideon drew in a deep breath. This was it, the moment of truth — would Geneva help? “I need my amulet,” he said. “The township is moving, I’m sure you know, and Mabel Pines was taken by the township to power it. That sphere in the sky, that’s her. I need to save her, and I need my amulet to do it.”

Geneva listened, her face hesitant. “What will your amulet do?”

“I don’t know,” Gideon said, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. “But I’ll be able to do more than I can now. Do you know where the amulet is?”

“I. . . I’m not sure. You know how secretive your father can be.”

Gideon was silent for a moment, his eyes scanning her face. “Mother, are you willing to help me?”

Her expression became more hesitant, even fearful. “I. . . I want to, but. . .”

“But you’re worried about Bill hurting you if you do? Mother, he’s going to hurt us no matter what. Even if you survive the trip to his dimension, he’ll probably just kill everyone as soon as he has the power. And I won’t survive the trip at all.”

Geneva’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“Mabel’s dying up there,” Gideon said. “She’s one of Bill’s Symbols, and the township is going to use her up and kill her. Well, I’m also one of Bill’s Symbols. For him to get to his dimension, he has to kill me, too.”

“No,” Geneva whispered in horror.

“Yes,” Gideon said grimly. “And if Mabel dies, we won’t be able to defeat Bill. All ten Symbols have to be alive to stop him. If we don’t save Mabel, then either everyone dies because we starve or freeze to death, or everyone dies because Bill kills his Symbols, gets to his dimension, and kills the rest of you.”

Geneva stared at him.

“Will you help me get my amulet?” Gideon asked.

Geneva nodded mutely. Gideon sighed in relief.

Then Geneva frowned. “But — your father—”

“Will he help?” said Gideon. He doubted it, but he wanted to ask. “How loyal is he to Bill?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know, honestly. After the servants’ betrayal, I think he’s more angry at Bill than anything. But I don’t know if he’ll help.”

Gideon nodded thoughtfully. “Well, we’ll just have to work around him, if we can.”

Just then, as if summoned by Gideon’s words, footsteps sounded in the hall. Gideon’s and Geneva’s eyes widened, and Gideon felt his pulse suddenly speed up. He knew those footsteps. They were heavy, strident, purposeful.

They were Gaston’s footsteps. And they were headed to this room.


	8. Chapter 8

After their initial shock at hearing Gaston’s footsteps, Gideon and Geneva acted quickly. Geneva shooed Gideon away, and he ducked behind the dressing screen again, nearly running into Dipper. Dipper shot him a questioning look, but Gideon shook his head and motioned for Dipper to stay still. Thankfully, Dipper had managed to stay quiet for Gideon’s entire conversation with Geneva; Gideon didn’t want him to make any sound now.

The boys sat quietly behind the dressing screen, listening as Gaston knocked on the door. Gideon heard Geneva lie back down on her bed. “Come in,” she said.

The door opened. “Geneva?” said Gaston. “The servants told me you had a headache again. Are you all right?”

“I’m feeling a bit better,” Geneva said. Her voice was nervous; Gideon winced at how obvious it was that she was hiding something. “Gaston, darling, can I. . . ask you something?”

The bed shifted as Gaston sat down. “Yes?”

“Do you. . .” Geneva hesitated. “Do you really support Bill?”

Gideon held his breath. Geneva was rarely this forward. What would Gaston say?

There was a moment of silence. “Now, darling,” Gaston said, “you know our family has supported Bill for generations.”

“Yes,” Geneva said, “but do _you_ support him? If he — if he had to kill people to get what he wanted, would you support that?”

More silence. “I don’t know if we have a choice, at this point,” Gaston admitted. “If we tried to get in the way, our servants—” He paused, then spoke bitterly. “ _His_ servants would throw us out of the Manor.”

“I’m sure they would.” Geneva’s voice grew quiet and tender. “But ignore that. Just tell me how you really feel about Bill. What if he went after Gideon? What if he tried to — to—”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but Gaston seemed to know what she was talking about. “Now where have you heard that?” he said sharply. “Have you been talking to Stanford?”

“No, I just — heard a rumor,” Geneva said.

Gaston breathed deeply. “Well,” he said, “whatever you heard, it’s wrong. Gideon doesn’t have to die, and neither do the other Symbols. They’re helping Bill get home, and once this is all over, he’ll leave us be. We can get Gideon back, and—”

“ _That’s a lie!_ ”

Gideon jumped. What—? He looked up and saw Dipper on his feet, his fists clenched. Gideon grabbed his hand and tried to tug him back down, but it was too late.

“What was that?” Gaston asked.

“I — I don’t know.” Geneva sounded startled. She hadn’t known that Dipper was here.

Gideon shook his head frantically at Dipper, but Dipper wasn’t looking. He stepped out from behind the dressing screen. “That’s a lie,” he repeated. “Bill is trying to kill my sister, and he’s going to try to kill the rest of the Symbols, too! Including your son!”

“Who are you?” Gaston demanded. “What are you doing in here?”

Gideon grimaced and got to his feet. Thanks, Dipper, this was _exactly_ how I wanted my father to find out about us. Gideon stepped out and stood next to Dipper. “Father,” he said, keeping his voice controlled, “this is Dipper Pines. He’s helping me.”

Gaston stared at Gideon in surprise, but a second later he composed his expression into a neutral, lofty look. “I thought you were hiding at the Mystery Museum,” he said haughtily.

“I was,” Gideon said. He refused to rise to the bait. “But I’ve come back to get my amulet. I need it to save Mabel Pines.”

Gaston raised an orgulous eyebrow. “Mabel Pines? The peasant girl you ran away to see?”

“I ran away to tell the Pines about Lincoln,” Gideon said, “but yes, also to see Mabel. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’ll die if we don’t help her.”

“You’re not going to get in the way,” Dipper said, glaring at Gaston.

Gideon nudged Dipper to shut him up. “We’re not trying to make any more enemies, Dipper. We’re trying to get their help.”

“My help?” Gaston repeated. “You want me to help you after you ran away, gave up one of our biggest secrets, and hid with our enemies?”

“Listen, buddy,” Dipper said. “Gideon did the right thing. And Bill already punished him with nightmares for it, so he doesn’t need any flak from you.”

Gaston recoiled at being called “buddy” by a thirteen-year-old. “You dare speak to me that way?”

“Yeah, I dare! You called my sister a peasant!”

Gaston called almost everyone a peasant, but Gideon didn’t like hearing the term used for his friend. “Mabel is innocent, Father,” Gideon said, trying to stay calm. “She doesn’t deserve to die. And her death would seal the rest of our deaths, too. Bill needs all ten Symbols to die before he can be free, and he will probably kill everyone else as soon as he has the power to do so. If you want to live, then you need to help me rescue Mabel.”

Gideon knew Gaston probably didn’t care enough to stop Bill from destroying the entire multiverse — which is what would happen if Bill escaped his prison. But did Gaston care enough about his own life to stop the demon?

Gaston hesitated, glaring at Gideon and Dipper as he thought.

Geneva spoke up in the silence. “I believe him, dear,” she said. “Bill doesn’t seem to care about us, even though the Northwests have been serving him for generations. I don’t think he’ll care whether we live or die.”

Gaston glanced at her, then shook his head. “Bill has given us multiple promises of power and glory over the years. And now he’s giving us the honor of hosting him while he guides the township home. I don’t much like the way the servants are acting, it’s true, but we must stay strong.”

Dipper opened his mouth to yell at Gaston, but Gideon stomped on Dipper’s foot to stop him. “Father,” Gideon said, “I know the promises Bill has made, but once he’s free—”

“No,” said Geneva.

Gideon stopped and looked at her. She was staring intently at Gaston, and she drew herself up taller than Gideon had ever seen her. “No, Gaston, we are _not_ acting strong. We’re acting like cowards, letting Bill push us around. _I’m_ acting like—” Her voice broke. “I’ve been a coward since I married you. I’ve sat aside and done nothing while you’ve abused our son and driven away our daughter.” Her eyes flickered to Gideon, then back to Gaston. “Nothing will make up for that, I know. But I will _not_ stand aside and let Bill hurt my son even more. I _will_ help Gideon get his amulet, and _you_ will not stop me.”

There was silence as Gideon, Dipper, and Gaston all stared at Geneva in shock. “Mother,” said Gideon softly. He couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Geneva folded her arms and glared at Gaston. “Is that understood?”

Gaston recovered and glared right back. “You do _not_ speak to me that way,” he said.

Geneva wilted under that glare, but she managed to say, “I will speak to you in whatever way I choose. Now, where is Gideon’s amulet?”

“And my grunkles,” Dipper said. “We’re here to rescue Ford and Lee, too.”

“But the amulet first,” Gideon said, wishing that Dipper hadn’t said anything about Ford and Lee. They still didn’t know if Gaston was willing to help them.

Gaston looked at each of them in turn, his face purple with suppressed rage. Geneva put a gentle hand on Gaston’s arm. “Please, dear,” she said, her voice soft once again. “Helping Gideon is the right thing.”

It seemed as if Gaston wanted to push her hand away, but he didn’t. “If we give him the amulet, Geneva, then he’ll run away with it. He’ll never come back.”

“Good,” Geneva said firmly. Gideon could see tears in her eyes. “ _Good_. I would miss him terribly, but you shouldn’t have him in your power ever again.”

Gaston glared at her, but she met his gaze with a glare of her own. Gideon was in shock — his mother was _never_ this stubborn. Since he was a child, he’d watched Geneva submit to her husband with quiet cowardice. Grace had hated that, and Gideon had overheard some of their fights.

If only Grace could see her mother now.

The room fell into a tense silence as Gaston thought. Gideon watched hopefully as the color drained from Gaston’s face, returning to a calm expression. “You say this Mabel is going to die?” Gaston said, trying to sound disinterested.

“Yes,” Dipper said quietly. “I don’t know how long she has left. I. . . I can’t lose my sister, sir.”

Gideon glanced at him, grateful that he was being more respectful now. No one said anything for a moment.

Then, “Fine,” Gaston said. “Fine. I will tell you where your amulet is. Or, I’ll tell you where I saw it last. Someone may have moved it without telling me. But that’s it. I won’t have anything else to do with this, and I won’t bail you out if the servants catch you. Understood?”

Gideon nodded. That was better than he’d dared to hope for. “Thank you, Father.”

“What about my grunkles?” said Dipper. “Will you tell us where they are?”

“I know where they are,” Geneva said. “I’ll help you. I don’t. . . I don’t think it’s wise to look for Lincoln, however. Bill isn’t going to give him up.”

Dipper folded his arms. “I’m here to rescue both of them,” he said stubbornly.

“Gideon, your amulet is in the safe in the game room. The key is on my key ring.” Gaston’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t let me see you sneaking around, or I may just turn you into the servants myself.”

And with that, he turned and swept from the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

Dipper watched him go with wide eyes. “Wow,” he said. “No wonder you ran away.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Gideon said. And he didn’t want Dipper to know, either. He wondered how much the boy had inferred about Gideon’s situation from what Geneva had said to Gaston. Hopefully not much.

Dipper glanced up at Geneva. “Why did you marry that guy?” he asked bluntly.

Gideon winced, and Geneva grimaced. “It was an arranged marriage,” she said. Then she turned a wistful gaze on the door. “But I loved him, once.”

“Dipper,” said Gideon, “why don’t you go check on our friends? Tell them that we know where the amulet is, and that we should have it soon. I want to talk to my mother alone.”

Dipper nodded and went back out to the balcony. Gideon watched in his periphery as Dipper shot the grappling hook up to the roof, held on, and flew up as the cord retracted. It seemed to carry his weight just fine.

Gideon turned his full attention to Geneva. “Mother,” he said, “I. . .” He swallowed. “Thank you.”

She shook her head, tears still in her eyes. “I don’t deserve your thanks. Not after fourteen years of. . .” She closed her eyes as more tears fell.

It was terrible that never, in all fourteen years of his life, had Geneva tried to protect Gideon from Gaston. But she was trying now. “Well,” he said, “I still thank you for what you just did. Do you know where Father’s key ring is?” She nodded, and he continued, “Then would you be willing to retrieve my amulet for me? If there’s anyone in the game room, you can come back and tell me, and we’ll make a plan.” He was still wearing his backpack, which had a stun gun tucked away inside. Dipper had a stun gun, too. But as he’d told Dipper repeatedly over the last few days: They wanted to use stealth, not to fight their way through the Manor.

Geneva looked scared, but she nodded. “What about Stanford and Lincoln?”

“I’m just focused on the amulet right now. I’ll be able to help them once I have it.”

“All right. Will you stay in here when I go to get it?”

Gideon started to nod, then paused. “Will the servants come in here to clean?”

Geneva gave a small scowl. “They haven’t been doing as much cleaning since they revealed their true loyalties. But they do come in here every once in a while.”

“Then I’ll wait outside,” Gideon said. “Come out to the balcony when you get back, and I’ll see you.”

“Do you want me to go now?”

“When else?” Then he checked his tone. “Sorry, Mother. I meant to say, would you be willing to go now?”

She took a deep breath. “All right.”

“Thank you.”

She gave him a hesitant look. “Gideon, may I. . . may I give you a hug?”

He blinked. Geneva wasn’t one for hugs, not that he knew. Except. . . maybe that wasn’t because she didn’t want to give them, but because Gideon and Gaston didn’t want to accept them.

“Of course,” Gideon said.

That was all Geneva needed. She threw her arms around Gideon. He hugged her back. It hurt, but it was worth it. It was the first time Gideon ever remembered his mother hugging him this hard.

She cried on his shoulder, and he let her. Confusing emotions flowed through him, and he didn’t want to untangle them. So he just stood there in the hug.

Then she moved away. “Sorry,” she murmured, aware of the physical pain she’d caused him. But the hug had carried emotional solace that made up for any physical pain.

She smiled up at Gideon, wiping the tears away from her eyes. “I’ll go now,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll be back soon with your amulet.”

“Thank you, Mother,” he said.

Geneva went to the top dresser drawer and pulled out a ring of keys. After a moment of deliberation, she grabbed one of her small handbags and put the keys inside to cushion their noise. Then, with a final smile at Gideon, she slipped from the room.

Gideon went out to the balcony and waved up at Dipper, who dropped the grappling hook down to the balcony. Gideon used the grappling hook with no problems. Once on the roof, the boys climbed onto Marigold and Rowan (since there wasn’t anywhere dry to sit on the roof), and Dipper pulled out one of the sandwiches from his backpack. It had only been a few hours since they’d left the Museum, and Gideon wasn’t hungry, so he just leaned down on Rowan’s neck and made himself comfortable. The perytons knelt on the snowy roof with the boys on their backs.

“Is your mom going to get the amulet?” Dipper asked.

“Yeah,” Gideon said. “She has the key to the safe, so hopefully she can just walk in, get the amulet, and come back.”

“That’d be awesome.”

Yeah, it would be. Gideon hadn’t allowed himself to hope for such a simple, straightforward retrieval, but maybe it wasn’t too unlikely. After all, talking to his parents had gone so much better than he’d ever imagined. He’d never expected Geneva to stand up for him like that.

It didn’t make up for fourteen years of neglect. He could feel that deep in his mind. But he was relieved and thankful that Geneva had done what she did.

As he waited in the cold, Gideon felt more warmth inside than he had in days.


	9. Chapter 9

It took a while for Geneva to come back. The boys didn’t dare wait in her room, in case somebody else came by. But even with their coats and gloves and heat mushrooms, it was really cold on the roof, and Dipper soon convinced Gideon to go inside and get some blankets. Fortunately, Geneva kept a stack of blankets in her closet (she got cold easily), and Gideon grabbed a few of those.

Sitting on the backs of the perytons, huddled in their blankets, Dipper and Gideon couldn’t do much but talk. “I wish there was _something_ I could do,” Dipper said. “I know you said on Sunday that you probably couldn’t make me invisible, but still. I don’t wanna sit out here in the cold for hours.”

“Sorry,” Gideon said. Once he had his amulet, he’d use it to turn invisible and search for Ford and Lee. He didn’t think there was anything useful for Dipper to do except wait with the perytons until they could all escape. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s not going to be any fun when I’m sneaking around.”

“More fun than sitting in the cold,” Dipper muttered. Then he patted Marigold’s neck. “Not that I don’t want to spend time with you, Marigold.”

Marigold ruffled her wings. Even on the open rooftop, the perytons didn’t seem the mind the cold as much as the boys did.

“Hey, Gideon,” Dipper said after a moment of silence. “I’ve been thinking since you told me you could turn invisible with your amulet. Is that how. . . Well, Mabel told me that she saw you down in the bunker. The day Shifty died. Did you follow us down there, invisible?”

Gideon glanced at him, then nodded. “Bill sent me. He led me to believe that the first Journal was in the bunker, and I could take it from you and trap you down there.”

“You came down to steal another Journal from us?”

Gideon stared at Rowan’s fur. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I would’ve done if the Journal was there. But it wasn’t.”

“You saved Mabel from Shifty, didn’t you?”

Another nod, this one uncomfortable. “I saved all of you from Shifty,” Gideon said softly. “I switched the guns so that Ford would accidentally kill it.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. Shifty was going to steal the Journal and trap you in there.”

“Just like you were?”

Gideon hesitated. “Well, that’s what Bill wanted me to do,” he said. “But I didn’t do it. I gave Mabel her Journal back when I had a chance to take it. And I didn’t try to trap you.”

There was a moment of silence. “I’m glad you didn’t,” said Dipper. “I don’t think you had to kill Shifty, though.”

Gideon was quiet. Technically, Ford was the one who had killed Shifty, but Dipper probably didn’t want to be corrected on that point. Gideon still thought killing it was the right thing to do: If Shifty had gotten out, its shapeshifting abilities could’ve caused even more chaos than was already present. But Gideon didn’t say as much to Dipper.

More silence. Gideon shivered and drew his blanket tighter around him.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Dipper asked, “How long have you had a crush on my sister?”

Gideon blinked in surprise. For a moment, he thought of denying that he had a crush at all — but Dipper would probably see through that. So he decided on the truth. “I don’t know,” he said. “I think it started somewhere between when I took her Journal and when I followed you guys down to the bunker.” He hesitated. “Is it obvious?”

“To me, yeah,” Dipper said, shooting a mischievous grin Gideon’s way. “To her, probably not. She doesn’t really think about that sort of stuff.”

“She doesn’t?”

“No, she doesn’t think we’re old enough to deal with it. Which, I mean,” he admitted, “she has a point. It’s pretty complicated to be more than friends.”

“Yeah,” Gideon said softly. Then, “But does she at least want to be my friend?”

Dipper laughed, but not rudely. “You tell me, dude. She’s been spending most of her time with you since you came to the Museum. I think she’s forgiven you, and I think she definitely wants to be your friend. Which is saying something, because Mabel can hold some impressive grudges.”

Gideon couldn’t stop a smile from coming to his face. That was good. That was really good.

“I wish I could go with you to save her,” Dipper said. “I mean, I trust you — which is _also_ saying something, because I never thought I would. But. . . I still want to go with you. I don’t want her to think I don’t care about her.”

“I’ll tell her how much you wanted to come,” Gideon said. “But I don’t think she’d doubt you. It’s easy to tell you’re a good brother.”

From the smile that came onto Dipper’s face, that was the right thing to say. “Thanks,” Dipper said. Then, “Your mom said something about a daughter. Do you have a sister?”

Gideon winced. It was always painful thinking about Grace. “I did,” he said carefully. “She’s gone. I don’t like to talk about her.”

He worried Dipper wouldn’t get the hint, but thankfully, the other boy didn’t pursue the topic further. Instead, “Where do you think Geneva is? Is the game room across the mansion?”

Gideon shrugged. “Yeah, sort of. But she should be on her way back, unless she ran into trouble.”

“I hope she didn’t.”

They waited some more. Gideon’s anxiety grew. Was Geneva safe? Did the servants catch her? Were they hurting her? Gideon had never known the servants to hurt his parents, but he knew full well that they could. Maybe they would, now that they were openly working for Bill.

Rowan picked up on this anxiety and sent Gideon feelings of calm and assurance. It would all work out, he promised. His kind thoughts helped. But Geneva was taking so long that nothing could stop Gideon’s worries entirely.

Eventually, Gideon got hungry and ate one of his sandwiches. He was just finishing it off when he heard the balcony door open. “Gideon?” came Geneva’s whisper.

His eyes widened. She was back. She was safe. Gideon immediately climbed off Rowan and moved to the edge of the roof. “Up here, Mother,” he called softly. “Do you have it?”

She looked surprised and worried to see Gideon on the roof. But she recovered and said, “Yes, I have it. Are those. . . are those pegasi up there with you? They’re beautiful.”

“They’re perytons. They flew us here,” said Gideon. “Are the servants suspicious at all? Did they get in your way?”

Geneva shook her head. “Sorry for the delay. They did get in the way, but I don’t think they’re suspicious about anything. They just asked me where I was going, so I said I was hungry, and they sent me to the kitchens. I had to eat something there before I could leave without anyone getting suspicious. But I got the game room eventually.” She looked nervously up at him. “Could you come down?”

Gideon nodded. “Do you want to come down with me, Dipper?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Sure,” said Dipper.

The boys dropped down to the balcony. Gideon turned to Geneva. “May I have it?” he asked eagerly.

She smiled and opened her handbag, pulling out the teal blue stone.

Gideon took it from her and thanked her. Then he stared down at the amulet as a feeling of relief swept through him. Here it was! He had his amulet again. He could actually be useful now.

He fastened it to his collar. Its weight on his collarbone was a familiar friend.

“Yes!” Dipper cheered. “Thank you, thank you, Geneva! Can you turn invisible now, Gideon?”

What Gideon really wanted to do was jump of the balcony and fly around for a while, but he refrained. All right, amulet, he thought, I know it’s been a while, but we have work to do. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and turned invisible.

“Woah,” said Dipper. Gideon opened his eyes as Dipper reached out and waved his hand around. He bumped into Gideon’s arm. “So cool, dude. Are you going to go look for my grunkles now?”

Gideon nodded, only to remember that Dipper couldn’t see him at the moment. He turned visible again. “I’ll start with Ford,” he said. “I’ll go find him, and maybe reveal myself to him if I can. You said you know where he is, Mother?”

“They have him in the interior guest room on the first floor,” she replied. “The one without any windows.”

Gideon nodded. He’d always thought that room was more fitting for prisoners than guests. Knowing his family, that was likely intentional. “How many servants are guarding it?”

“I don’t know. Two, perhaps, or maybe three. Can you get in there safely if you’re invisible?”

He didn’t know, so he’d better find out. “I won’t take any risks,” he said. “I’ll just scout the area and come back if I can’t get in.”

He left Dipper on the balcony, then had Geneva open the door for him so he could slip through invisibly. The halls of the Northwest Manor were shadowy, with a few lights shining dimly and most of them off altogether. Gideon suppressed a shiver and headed for the room that Ford was in.

The halls were mostly empty — after all, there were only half the servants and no businessmen coming to speak with Gaston. Still, Gideon stayed close to the walls, which turned out to be a good strategy when two servants turned a corner and almost walked right into him. Gideon waited until they were well out of sight before allowing himself to release the terrified breath he held. Then he continued on his way.

He soon caught up to those same two servants and realized they were going the same direction he was. Making sure to keep a few yards of distance between them, he tailed the servants. They went all the way to Ford’s prison room, where two other servants were. The two arriving servants switched places with the current guards, who went on their way. Gideon stood at the end of the hallway and watched.

He lifted a foot to take a step, then froze. The hall was completely still. Would the two servants hear his footsteps in the silence? Probably, since the servants had sharp senses. Gideon wondered if he could fly while invisible. If so, he’d be able to silently hover around the servants.

He didn’t dare try it while standing right in front of them, though. And how was he going to get through that closed door, anyway? Wait here for hours until the servants brought Ford a meal, and slip through when they opened the door?

No, he decided, he’d better get back to Dipper. They’d make a plan with the information they had, and Gideon would experiment with the amulet a bit.

With a final look at the door, Gideon turned away and left Ford’s prison room behind.

~~~~~

It was nearly time for dinner by the time Gideon was ready to leave his parents’ room again. For the past few hours, he’d tried out different things with the amulet, only to have it turn out basically as he expected. He couldn’t make both himself and Dipper invisible at the same time, and he couldn’t turn Dipper invisible at all (no matter how much Dipper had asked him to keep trying). He couldn’t phase through walls, either. Most disappointing of all was that he couldn’t fly while invisible. Couldn’t even hover and get rid of his traitorous footsteps. Gideon was a naturally quiet person, but even he would have trouble sneaking through a silent hallway without making some sort of suspicious noise.

“They might be taking Ford’s dinner soon,” Dipper said, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Do you want to go try to get in?”

Gideon didn’t respond. He was thinking. “Mother,” he said to Geneva, who had been in and out of the room since Gideon had left the first time, “do you think you could come with me?”

Geneva looked startled. “Why?”

“To mask my footsteps,” he said. “Maybe you could go and ask to talk to Ford, because. . . I don’t know, just because you’re curious, or you want to make sure he’s comfortable, or something like that. Then, when they open the door for you, I could slip inside.”

She hesitated. “Would they fall for that?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “We’ll have to come up with a good reason.”

“What if they don’t let me see him? They’ve let me know very clearly that they don’t take orders from me anymore.”

“If they don’t let you in, then you’ll leave, and I’ll stay until they bring him food.”

At that, Dipper’s stomach growled a little. “After you go down to Ford,” Dipper said to Geneva, “do you think you could bring some food up here?”

Gideon glanced at him. “You have two more sandwiches.”

“I know, but we might as well eat here while we’re here. Who knows when I’ll need those sandwiches?”

“You’ll be going straight back to the Museum after this, so you won’t need them later,” Gideon pointed out. He didn’t know when “after this” was, but it was best to eat their sandwiches and _then_ worry about smuggling food up here.

Dipper pouted. “Fine. I just wanted to try your rich people food.”

“The servants aren’t making anything fancy right now,” Geneva said. She sounded both conciliatory and resentful. “They aren’t serving dinner to us, either, so I’ll have to go to the kitchens. I’ll grab something extra for you.”

“Okay, but don’t take so much that the servants get suspicious,” said Gideon. “What reason will we give for your visiting Stanford?”

They soon decided that she would pretend to be acting out of concern for Ford and curiosity for herself. It was the best motivation they could think of that would be realistic. Whether the servants would think it good enough to allow her to visit Ford, Gideon didn’t know. But they had to try.

“I don’t want to just stay here,” Dipper grumbled. “Do I have to sit on the roof again?”

“You’re welcome to stay in here,” Geneva said, glancing out the balcony doors and shivering. “Anyone coming should knock before entering, even Gaston. But do be careful.”

“Okay,” Dipper said, though he still looked annoyed that he wouldn’t be coming with them. “Tell Ford hi for me, Gideon.”

Gideon nodded. “There’s a possibility I won’t be able to leave Ford’s room until the morning, so don’t worry if I don’t come back tonight.”

“Good luck.”

With a final glance at Dipper and Geneva, Gideon turned invisible. Then Geneva went to the door, opened it, and started down the hall. Gideon followed and tried to match the pattern of her footsteps to mask his own noise.

They headed for the prison room. Soon, Gideon would see Stanford Pines.


	10. Chapter 10

Ford was standing beside the door when the key turned in the lock. Finally! He moved right in front of the door, ready to push aside whoever was standing on the other side.

Then the door opened, revealing a nicely dressed woman with a startled expression.

Caught off guard, Ford hesitated in the crucial second that he should’ve used to push past her. He knew his opportunity was lost. He quickly retreated, hoping no servants had seen him ready to ambush them.

“Hello,” he said the woman, trying to pretend that he hadn’t been over by the door a second ago. “You must be Mrs. Northwest.”

The woman hesitated. Then, “I am,” she said carefully, stepping into the room. She was followed by Marcus the servant, who closed and locked the door behind them, heedless of Ford’s glare on the back of his head.

“To what do I owe this visit?” Ford asked Mrs. Northwest. The last time Ford had seen Gaston, his servants had taken control and escorted him back to his Manor. It was safe to assume that neither Gaston nor his wife was in control now, and Ford had no problem showing respect to this woman.

“I. . .” Mrs. Northwest paused. “Well, I suppose I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable.”

Ford studied her, trying to gauge her sincerity. “I am physically comfortable, thank you,” he said. “But my family is in danger, and I really must help them.”

Marcus laughed. “Don’t appeal to her for your freedom, Stanford,” he said. “She’s not in control here.”

Ford gave a small nod. “Yes, I can see that,” he said, looking at Mrs. Northwest as he spoke. “I would assume she feels as trapped as I do, and that’s part of why she wanted to visit me.”

Mrs. Northwest glanced nervously around the room. “I suppose you’re right,” she admitted.

“Is that all you wanted, Geneva?” said Marcus. “To sympathize with Stanford? Looks like you’ve done that. Let’s go.”

Geneva stood up taller and looked at Marcus imperiously. “I will let you know when I am ready to leave.”

Marcus shook his head. “That’s not how this works anymore, ma’am,” he said. He bowed slightly to her, but his attitude was anything but deferent.

Geneva glanced between Marcus and Ford. “Well, Stanford,” she said, “I’m sorry you’re being kept prisoner here. Please know that my husband and I have nothing to do with it.”

“I understand,” Ford said, nodding slightly. “Thank you for visiting.”

“Your next meal will be here soon, Stanford,” said Marcus. “Let’s not wait behind any more doors, hmm? We haven’t hurt you as of yet, but we won’t hesitate if provoked.”

Geneva flinched at this, but Ford kept his face neutral. Inwardly, he cursed himself for not taking the advantage and escaping, regardless of who was at the door.

With a final apologetic look, Geneva allowed herself to be led from the room. Ford was left alone again. He settled himself back onto his bed with a sigh and wondered if he should try to ambush the next person who came to the door. They’d be ready for him, and he’d probably get hurt, but he had to try, didn’t he? For his family’s sake?

He got into position by the door again.

“Don’t say anything, Stanford, but you’re not alone in here.”

Ford froze and turned around. Where had that voice come from? For a moment, his mind hoped that it was Lee, contacting him from the spirit plane somehow. But the voice was far too young for that.

“You don’t want to wait there,” the voice said quietly. “Marcus wasn’t lying when he said they would hurt you. I can help you escape, but not right now.”

Ford moved away from the door, going to the opposite side of the room so that no one would hear him talk. “Gideon, is that you?” he whispered, guessing based on the sound of the voice.

“Yes,” came the response. “I’m invisible. I have my amulet back, and I can use it to help you.”

Ford’s hopes soared.

“Dipper is here, too,” Gideon whispered. “He says hi. We came for my amulet, so I can use it to rescue Mabel, but Pacifica told us that you and Lincoln were here, too.”

“Can you really use the amulet to save Mabel?” asked Ford.

“I’m not sure,” Gideon admitted. “But I hope so. I’m going to try. But first, I’m going to get you out of here.”

“And Lee?”

Gideon was silent for a moment. “My mother said that Bill was constantly possessing him. I don’t know if we can help him.”

“Can your amulet contact spirits, perhaps?” said Ford. “If Bill is in his body, then he’ll be around here somewhere as a spirit.”

“Of course,” Gideon breathed. “Yes, of course! I can perform séances with my amulet.”

“Can you do one here? Can I talk to my brother through you?”

“I go into a trance, so I wouldn’t be able to talk to you while I was talking to him. And I don’t think I could do it while invisible. But. . . I’d rather stay in here with you, because then I could make plans with you immediately after talking to Lincoln. Besides giving you meals, do the servants come in here at all?”

“No,” Ford said. “They haven’t interrogated me or anything. Maybe they’re trying to break my will through boredom before any of that.” Not that it would work.

“Okay. We’ll wait until after your dinner, and I’ll do the séance then.”

With that, Gideon was silent. Ford wanted to talk more — it’d been days since he’d had a real conversation with someone — but he knew it was unwise. They’d talked very quietly just now, but anything they said was at risk to be heard by the servants. Ford sighed and occupied himself by thinking of an excuse, in case the servants asked who he was talking to the next time they saw him.

A few minutes later, Marcus returned with a plate of food and set it on the bedside table. “My companion says he heard you talking in here,” he said. “Who were you talking to?”

Ford glared at him stubbornly. Then he sighed and said, “My brother. I figured if Bill is possessing him, he might be around to hear me.”

Marcus raised his eyebrows, then gave a vindictive little smile. “I’m sure one-sided conversations are very entertaining.”

“Yes, very,” Ford said stiffly. “Would you like to stay and insult me a bit longer, or may I hold my one-sided conversations in peace?”

Marcus watched him for a moment. “Perhaps one of us should stay in here with you to hear what you’re saying to your brother.”

“And force me to look at your faces all day? No, thank you.” Inwardly, Ford was worried. Would he and Gideon be able to talk at all if a servant came in here? Probably not.

“We would grow tired of your glares, I’m sure,” Marcus said. “Well, enjoy your dinner. Don’t be surprised if we decide to send someone in here to keep you company.”

“The day I’ll need your company is a sad day indeed,” Ford replied.

Marcus rolled his eyes, then left the room.

Ford let out a relieved breath. He glanced at his food plate, then took it over to the spot Gideon’s voice had come from. “Take some if you want,” he whispered, then backed away.

Gideon took some food from the plate, and it disappeared as soon as he did. Ford never saw him, but the objects he held disappeared when he picked them up. Interesting. When Gideon was done, the plate disappeared and reappeared on Ford’s bedside table. He had probably carried it over.

Ford ate what was left. They waited in silence again until a servant entered and took Ford’s plate away. Then, some minutes later, Ford heard a whisper near his ear. “I’m going to try the séance now,” Gideon said. “I’ll try it while invisible first, but it probably won’t work. I’ll sit near the door, where they won’t see me immediately if they open it. Don’t be surprised if I turn visible, and don’t try to speak with me.”

Ford nodded, then whispered, “Ask Lee where his body is and how he thinks we should rescue him.”

“I already know where his body is. But I’ll ask him about rescue plans.”

More silence. Enough time passed that Ford wondered if Gideon had succeeded in holding a séance while invisible. About fifteen minutes passed, and then Gideon reappeared, sitting beside the wall, behind the door if it should open. The boy’s eyes were closed, and his amulet glowed on his collar.

Ford waited patiently on his bed while Gideon attempted to contact Lee.

~~~~~

All sensation was gone. Time was immaterial. Lee had no sense of reality anymore.

Some time ago, Bill had possessed his body and informed him that he wouldn’t be leaving. After that, Lee had drifted into a hazy oblivion. He wondered if this was what happened to most spirits after they died. It was hard to remember that he _wasn’t_ dead. It didn’t seem important.

Then something called to him. Like a beacon of light, the call gave Lee something to move to. It wasn’t a sound, but it wrapped around Lee and pulled him up from the ocean of oblivion back into awareness. If the spirit plane were an ocean, then Lee had been sinking; now, this new call brought him to the surface.

Light came into view. Lee could see again. At first, he thought he was in the Order headquarters, due to the firelit lantern that illuminated the room. But this room had a plush bed, comfortable-looking chairs, and an ornate door: a far cry from the rough stone walls of the Order.

On the bed sat Ford. Lee stared at his brother as excited thoughts rushed through him. “Ford!” he called. “Ford, can you hear me?”

“He can’t,” said a voice. “Only I can hear you.”

Lee turned and saw Gideon Northwest, sitting on the floor with his legs forming a circle in front of him. His amulet glowed on his collar. The boy smiled at Lee. “It worked,” he said. “I’m holding a séance with you right now. To Ford, it looks like I’m in a trance, because I’m speaking to you on the spirit plane. I’m glad I found you.”

“It’s good to see you,” Lee said, smiling back. “Is this the Manor?” That’s what it looked like. But why would Ford be in the Northwest Manor?

Then the memories returned. Lee, captive in the minotaur village. The Northwest servants coming and kidnapping both Ford and Lee. Xítway the minotaur, dead on the floor.

“Oh, no,” Lee whispered before Gideon could say anything. “Oh, no. How long has it been? What day is it?”

“It’s Wednesday evening,” Gideon said, “the sixteenth of January. Pacifica stabbed Mabel with the dagger on Friday, and the township is moving toward Bill’s dimension. We’re in the Northwest Manor right now. I came here to get my amulet and to rescue you and Ford, and then I’ll go to rescue Mabel.”

“It’s been almost a week?” said Lee. “But. . . I was just floating there for a few minutes, surely. . . .” He paused. “This must be what Fiddleford felt like,” he said quietly, “when he got back from Bill’s dimension. Ford told me he had no sense of time.”

“Some of the ghosts I’ve spoken to don’t even know what year it is,” Gideon said helpfully, “so it’s not uncommon.”

“Am I a ghost?” Lee’s incorporeal nature hadn’t bothered him since he’d lost awareness, but now he remembered what it was like to have a body, and he longed to be physical again.

“I don’t know,” Gideon said. “If you’re not in your body. . . I guess so. But that’s part of why I contacted you. I know where Bill is — where your body is. How are we going to rescue you?”

Lee didn’t answer for a moment. Did _he_ know where Bill was? Yes. . . yes, now he remembered what the room looked like. But he didn’t think it would end well if Gideon tried to go after him. “I. . . I don’t think you should. Rescue me, I mean.”

“No?” said Gideon. “Then how are you going to join the Cipher Wheel? Once Ford and Mabel get back to the Museum, we’ll have nine Symbols there. I don’t know how we’re going to get Pacifica to join us, but we have her captive right now. What about you?”

Lee was quiet again as he thought this through. “When I was at the minotaur village,” he said slowly, “I talked to Andrew about ways to join the Cipher Wheel. Getting Bill out of my body doesn’t really seem to be an option. . . . You could _try_ an exorcism with your amulet, but you’d have to put yourself in unnecessary danger even to try it, and Bill is really strong. He’s not just some ghost.”

“Right,” Gideon said. “What other ways did you talk about?”

“I think. . . I think the best option was to have me possess someone else. I don’t know how I would do that, though.”

Gideon looked thoughtful. “Maybe I can help you with my amulet. I’m not sure. Will the Cipher Wheel work if you’re in someone else’s body?”

“I have no idea,” Lee said, “but I want to try. It’s the best option I can think of. You said. . . you said Pacifica was at the Museum?”

Gideon nodded.

“Then I can talk to her,” Lee said. “She can see me when I’m a spirit. I can go to the Museum, get her help, and convince her to join the Cipher Wheel. Then, when you and Mabel get back, you can help me possess someone.”

Gideon nodded slowly. “We have plenty of people who aren’t on the Cipher Wheel but who are staying at the Museum. One of them might give permission for you to possess them.”

“Perfect,” Lee said. “I can talk to them through Pacifica, once I convince her to help me.”

“Is that it, then?” said Gideon. “We should only rescue Ford, and you’ll go the Museum as a spirit and try to talk to Pacifica?”

Lee nodded. “And you’ll go rescue Mabel. How are you going to do that?”

“I don’t know,” Gideon admitted. “But I _will_ rescue her.”

If there was a way, Lee believed that Gideon could find it. “Okay,” he said. He glanced back at Ford, who was still sitting on the bed, watching Gideon without seeing Lee. “Ford won’t like it,” Lee said. “He’ll want to get me out of here. You’ll have to tell him that I’m already in the Museum as a spirit, and that I’m going to try to possess someone else’s body to join the Cipher Wheel. You’ll have to convince him to leave without me.”

“I’ll do that,” Gideon said. Then he hesitated. “Lincoln,” he said, “has Bill really been in your body this entire time? I keep thinking that everything I say — everything I think — will be heard by him, but he can’t hear me if he’s in your body. It sounds like he has been for five days.”

“He’s been in there the entire time,” Lee confirmed. “When he leaves my body, I feel a pull to return to it, but I haven’t felt that since getting brought here. He can stay in my body for as long as he wants, you know. Even when it’s asleep.”

Gideon’s brow furrowed. “Why would he stay, though? Wouldn’t he come out and spy on us every once in a while?” He tilted his head. “The servants say he’s ‘stuck in human form.’ Is he actually stuck in your body?”

Lee frowned, trying to remember. “That doesn’t sound right. He. . . he told me when he possessed me that he was going to stay in my body until we got to his dimension. That was right after I woke up here. He didn’t say exactly why, but he said he had to be in someone’s body. So I suppose he _could_ leave, but there’s a reason he’s staying. Maybe. . . maybe it’s part of the magic of his prison. The ancients who created it had a lot of pieces that were supposed to keep him at a disadvantage, since they couldn’t make it entirely impossible for him to escape.”

A smile spread across Gideon’s face. “And if he can’t see into people’s minds because he’s stuck in someone’s body,” he said, “that’s a huge disadvantage for him. Thank you, ancients.”

“Except that he’s in the body of one of his Symbols,” Lee said.

“Yes. We’ll just have to hope that we can find another way.”

Lee nodded. Surely the ancients had foreseen a situation like this. Surely they had built in _some_ way for the Cipher Wheel to form, even if Lee wasn’t in his body.

Like Gideon said. They could only hope.

“Anything else?” Lee said. “Anything I can do for you before I go to the Museum?”

Gideon thought about this. “What if you went and scouted around the Manor? You could let me know where guards are posted, and what you think the easiest route out of here is.”

“I can do that,” Lee said. “Contact me again in an hour or so, and I’ll tell you what I found.”

“Thank you,” Gideon said. “I should probably let you know: I’m here with Dipper, and we have two stun guns and a grappling hook to use during the escape, plus two perytons that brought us here. They’re on the roof above my parents’ room right now. So all of us will be able to fly away during the escape.”

Lee nodded. That would change the best escape route, then. It would certainly make the whole thing easier. “So I should look for an escape route close to this room, with few servants and with an exit where you can jump out and mount perytons to fly away.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll do that, then.” Lee smiled at Gideon. “Thank you, Gideon. I don’t know if I ever would’ve come back to my senses if you hadn’t called me with your amulet.”

“Do you think you can stay focused after I end the séance?”

“I think I will. If not, then you’ll call me in an hour anyway.”

“Okay. Then I’ll end the séance and let you go.”

“Tell Ford that you’re not going to rescue me,” Lee reminded him, though he wished he could tell Ford himself. What he wouldn’t give to talk to Ford right now! But, he had to remind himself, he would be able to speak with Ford if they followed the plan. If Ford got out of the Manor, and Lee was there at the Museum to meet him, then the brothers would be together again. Even if Lee wasn’t in his own body.

“I’ll do that,” said Gideon. “Goodbye for now.”

With that, Gideon’s amulet lost its glow, and he looked away from Lee. It appeared he couldn’t see Lee’s spirit anymore. He got up and went to Ford, who looked anxious for a report on what had happened.

Gideon leaned down to whisper to Ford. Lee could’ve gotten closer to hear what they were saying, but it was better for him to go and do what Gideon had asked him to.

Lee still felt a pull to that same state of oblivion he’d been in just a few minutes earlier, but he was able to fight it off. He had a specific mission now, and he would stay focused on that.

He flew from the room, ready to spy on the enemy.


	11. Chapter 11

“I found him,” Gideon whispered to Ford. “I don’t think you’ll like what he had to say.”

Ford pursed his lips. “Turn invisible again, sit on the bed next to me, and then tell me.”

So Gideon did as Ford asked, sitting beside him on the bed so they’d be able to whisper without being heard by the servants outside the door. Then they got back to talking about Lincoln. “He doesn’t want us to rescue him,” Gideon said. “Bill really is in his body all the time, and he doesn’t think we should risk it. He wants to try possessing someone else so that he can join the Cipher Wheel.”

“Will that work? How will he possess anyone?”

“Pacifica can talk to him while he’s a ghost, and she’s at the Museum, so he’s going there to talk to her. Once I rescue Mabel, she and I will come back to the Museum, and I’ll do what I can to help Lee possess someone willing, if he can’t do it himself.”

Ford paused. “Are you the only one going to Mabel?”

“I’m probably the only one who can.” It’s not that Gideon would mind having Dipper’s or Ford’s help, but he doubted they’d be able to do anything without magic of their own.

“I don’t like it,” Ford whispered. At first, Gideon thought he meant he didn’t like the idea of Gideon going alone to save Mabel, but then he added, “There’s no way to know if the Cipher Wheel will accept him in someone else’s body.”

“No, but it’s the option that’s most likely to work. Bill isn’t planning on giving his body back anytime soon, and I don’t want to even think about trying to kidnap a demon from his servants.” Gideon sighed. “Marcus said they hadn’t hurt you yet. That’s good. But you don’t want to find out what happens if they _do_ hurt you.”

Ford was quiet. “I don’t like it,” he said again. “But. . . you’re right. His plan seems like the best place to start.” He rubbed at his eyes. “You said Pacifica was at the Museum? Where’s the dagger?”

“We have it. It’s hidden. If we get Mabel back and try the Cipher Wheel, and it doesn’t work because Lincoln is in someone else’s body, then we have time to figure out another solution. The barrier works — the servants can’t even shoot their guns through it.”

A small smile came onto Ford’s face. “Well, that’s a relief. Andrew was worried about making the barrier impermeable to objects.” The smile slipped. “Xítway’s barrier wasn’t.”

“What?”

“Xítway. The minotaur in charge of guarding Lee last week. She put up her own barrier spell around the hut, but it was a lot simpler than the one around the Museum. The Northwest servants shot and killed her through the door.”

Gideon was quiet. He hadn’t known that someone had already died in Bill’s attempt at freedom. “That’s terrible.”

“Yes.” Ford took a deep, silent breath. “Okay. We need to get me out of here. What resources do we have?”

Gideon and Ford spent the next hour planning. Gideon told Ford that Lincoln was scouting around the Museum, and he listed their resources: Dipper, maybe Geneva, two stun guns, a few knockout patches, the grappling hook, and the two perytons. Ford’s eyes lit up when Gideon mentioned the perytons. He seemed excited to fly with them.

As for what the servants had, Gideon didn’t want to go into too much detail about their resources. It was too painful to talk about. It was sufficient to say, he thought, that the servants had guns, knives, and hand-to-hand combat skills, and that they should be knocked out immediately or else avoided.

According to Ford, the servants also had Ford’s stun gun and a few knockout patches. That was disturbing news: Gideon didn’t think the servants would use real guns to subdue the Symbols (too much risk of killing them early), but they wouldn’t hesitate to use the stun gun. Ford didn’t know where the stun gun was now, but they had to assume the servants would use it.

It was hard to hold a conversation in such quiet whispers, but they didn’t dare talk any louder. Gideon could almost imagine a servant outside with an ear pressed to the door, trying to make out words or decide if someone was in the room with Ford. It helped that Gideon was invisible; that way, any servant who came to check on Ford wouldn’t see anyone else; but he still worried. He didn’t think the servants knew about the amulet’s invisibility trick, nor would they suspect that Gideon was here. But they certainly weren’t idiots, and he didn’t want to give them any chances to figure out what was happening.

“Are the windows in this building reinforced at all?” asked Ford at one point. “We could shoot the grappling hook to break a window, then jump out onto the waiting perytons.”

“That could work,” said Gideon. “The dining room is near here, and it has floor-to-ceiling windows. But I don’t know if we should jump through broken glass.”

“Yes, it’s very irresponsible. Melody would have my head.” Ford gave a mischievous grin. “But it’s an option.”

They bounced some ideas around, but it was hard to decide on a plan when they were still waiting for Lincoln’s report. They also made sure to have some periods of silence to reduce the chances of being caught by the servants. Finally, Gideon thought it had been about an hour (there was no clock in here), and he went back to his spot by the door to turn visible and call on Lincoln again.

Lincoln appeared, faster than he had last time. “There are only ten servants here,” he said. “They seem to be working in pairs. Two are here guarding Ford, two are guarding Bill, two are stationed outside around the Manor, two are in the kitchen doing dishes, and two are sleeping.”

Gideon wondered what schedule the servants were on, if six servants were guarding different places at all times and only two were sleeping at a time. How much sleep were the servants getting these days? Would lack of sleep make them less of a threat?

He probably couldn’t count on it. He didn’t doubt their ability to function on little sleep. “So they’re fairly spread out, then,” he said. “We can work with that. Did you see anyone pass through the dining room, by any chance? Ford and I think it might be a good option to break the windows with the grappling hook and leave through there.”

“I had the same thought,” said Lincoln. “I don’t think anyone will go in there, since it’s out of the way. Unless your parents are still eating in there.”

Gideon shook his head. “They’re getting their food straight from the kitchen right now.”

“Then the dining room is probably your best bet. I don’t know how often the guards outside the Manor change positions, though, so you’ll want to watch out for them.”

“All right. Thank you, Lincoln. Will you go to the Museum now?”

“Yes. I wish you well.” Lincoln gave Gideon a serious look. “Get my brother to safety.”

“I will.”

Gideon ended the séance, and Lincoln faded from view.

“Success?” Ford asked.

“Success,” said Gideon. “We have a way out.”

“And Lee is on the way to the Museum?”

“Yes. He’ll meet us there.”

“Good,” Ford said.

Gideon got to his feet.

Suddenly, the door flew open. Gideon hadn’t heard the lock or the knob turn, but the door swung around and hit him right in the face. He cried out softly and stumbled back.

“Gideon,” said Marcus’s voice. “How lovely to see you.”

Gideon’s eyes widened in panic, and he immediately turned invisible. His nose ached from where the door had hit it, and tears in his eyes partially obscured his vision.

How could he be so stupid! Speaking to Ford from across the room, not turning invisible right after he’d finished talking to Lee. Gideon cursed himself, but he didn’t have time to dwell on his mistakes. He had to get out of here _now_.

Ford was on his feet, and he rushed at Marcus in an attempt to get through the open doorway. Marcus smiled and caught Ford before he could get by, twisting his arm behind him. Gideon used his magic to lift Marcus off his feet, but he couldn’t force him to let go of Ford. The amulet’s levitation powers worked while Gideon was invisible, thankfully, but he could only do so much.

The other servant guarding Ford’s room joined in the fight, pulling Marcus back down and helping him subdue Ford, who was fighting ferociously. Gideon ran from the room, contorting himself to avoid touching any of the three men as he went. He went to the end of the hallway, turned, and levitated Ford with his magic, trying to pull the man toward him. But Marcus and the other servant didn’t let go, and Ford’s face looked pained as he was pulled one way by the magic and another by his captors.

“Just go,” Ford called. “Get to safety.”

Gideon wished he had a stun gun, but he’d only brought his amulet, and it was really only good for fighting one person at a time. He’d tried to fight the servants with his amulet before. It had never ended well.

He wanted to call back to Ford, to say something encouraging, but he didn’t dare. Marcus was yelling for help from the other servants, and Gideon could hear distant running footsteps.

“Go!” Ford yelled.

So Gideon, still invisible, turned and slipped away. He carefully made his way through the halls, taking the long way around to his parents’ room, avoiding the sounds of approaching footsteps.

He had no idea what would happen to Ford. Once again, he cursed himself for his stupidity. Ford would likely be tortured by the servants now, and it was all Gideon’s fault. They’d make sure he couldn’t escape the Manor. They could do almost anything to him. Bill only needed his Symbols alive, not functional.

Guilt and fear drummed through Gideon’s chest as he made his way back to his parents’ room. It took a while, since it was two floors above him, and he didn’t take the most direct route there. His pounding heart accompanied him the whole way, until he finally reached the door and knocked on it.

It opened to reveal Gaston, who looked confused when he saw no one there. Then his eyes narrowed. “Gideon?”

Gideon wanted to sneak past, but there was no space to do so without bumping into Gaston. “Please let me in,” Gideon whispered instead. “The servants know I’m here. Please, Father, let me hide here.”

Gaston was quiet as he considered this.

Then Geneva appeared in the door. “Move aside, Gaston,” she said, pushing him gently away from the door. Gaston turned to rebuke her, and Gideon took the opportunity to slip into the room. He hurried outside to the balcony, turned visible, and flew up to the roof. Whether his parents had seen him, he wasn’t sure. They had most likely heard the balcony door open. But Gaston wouldn’t be able to get to Gideon up here. He was, for the moment, safe.

But Ford wasn’t.

The perytons were on the roof, but Gideon didn’t see Dipper. Rowan told Gideon that Geneva had made a place for Dipper to sleep in her closet, and that’s where Dipper was now. Gaston didn’t know that Dipper was in his room.

Gideon thanked Rowan. The peryton picked up on Gideon’s panicked thoughts and tried to soothe them, though Gideon could feel Rowan’s own sadness at what had happened.

“It’s all my fault,” Gideon said. “Whatever happens to Ford now, it’s my fault.” He had to get back inside and talk to Dipper. He had to make a plan to save Ford.

Go, said Rowan.

Gideon was afraid of what Gaston might do if he saw him again. But he had to face his father if he was going to help Ford anytime soon. So he said goodbye to Rowan and Marigold, then flew down to the balcony.

Gaston was there, waiting, his arms folded. “What happened?” he asked.

Gideon did his best to ignore the fear that arose in his chest at the sight of his father. "I was in Stanford's room, and the servants heard us talking and saw me," he said, keeping his voice steady. "Stanford and I tried to fight them, but they caught him. They're going to hurt him, probably worse than they've hurt me in the past." Worse than _you've_ hurt me in the past, he thought, but he didn't say it aloud. He continued, "If I don't find him and save him, I don't—" He swallowed. "I don't know if I'll be able to help him at all."

Gaston listened silently. Gideon couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Will you help me?” Gideon knew it was dangerous to ask, but he needed help. “Can you go after them and try to stop them?”

Gaston pursed his lips. “They know you’re here now. If I try to do anything, they’ll assume I’m helping you. And unlike you, Gideon, I can’t just fly away with that amulet if they come after me.”

Gideon took that as a no. “Will you help _them_ , then?” he asked. “Will you tell them where I am?”

Gaston considered this. “No,” he said. “But our room is one of the first places they’ll look. You shouldn’t stay here.”

“Thank you, Father,” Gideon said, relieved. Then, “We won’t stay, but I need to come back inside for a moment. Dipper is in there.”

Gaston looked surprised by this, but Gideon didn’t wait for permission. He went into the room and knocked softly on the closet door before opening it. “We’ve been compromised,” he said to Dipper, who was sitting on a pile on the blankets on the other side. “They saw me. Ford is in danger.”

Alarmed, Dipper jumped to his feet. “What do we do?”

“Grab those blankets. We’re going to need them. We can’t stay in here.”

Dipper shivered at the thought, but he picked up the blankets. Gideon grabbed both his and Dipper’s packs, which were beside the blankets, and turned. Geneva was standing nearby, looking afraid for them. “If they ask, Mother,” Gideon said, “you didn’t see me. You had no idea I was here.”

She nodded.

Gideon and Dipper went out to the balcony, and Gideon levitated Dipper and the bundle of blankets onto the roof before flying up after them.

“What happened?” Dipper hissed once they were standing beside the perytons.

Gideon told of his conversations with Lee and Ford, and the run-in with the servants. Dipper was upset that they weren’t going to rescue Lee, but that didn’t compare to the fear and anger he expressed when Gideon hinted at what the servants might do to Ford. “We have to go save him, then!” said Dipper. “Right now!”

Ford’s failed escape and subsequent danger seemed to give Dipper a new burst of energy. But not Gideon. He could feel exhaustion wrapping around him, trying to convince him to go to sleep and figure everything out in the morning.

But Ford may not have until morning.

Gideon shoved away his sleepiness. He would sleep after Ford was safe.

Right now, Gideon and Dipper had to make a plan to rescue him.


	12. Chapter 12

Dipper had been bored in Geneva’s closet, but that was preferable to the panic he felt now. Ford was in danger, and they had to get to him _immediately_. “So what are we going to do?” Dipper asked Gideon. “How are we going to find him?”

Gideon hunched up his shoulders as if they would form a protective shell around him. “I know exactly where he is,” he said. “That’s not the problem.”

There were _lots_ of problems right now, so Dipper didn’t know why Gideon was talking like there was just one. “Okay,” he said, “then why don’t we just go after him? You with the amulet, me with the grappling hook, and then we’ll both have a stun gun, and—”

“They know I’m here,” Gideon said. His face was pale in the dim light of Mabel’s moon, and his posture and the look on his face reminded Dipper of Mabel. It was the look she got when she wanted to run away and hide under a blanket. “They saw me, Dipper. They know how to fight against kids with amulets; a few of them have been here since my father had it at my age. I know where Ford is, but they know that I know, and they’ll catch me before I can ever get to him.”

“Well, they don’t know _I’m_ here,” Dipper said. “You have me on your side, Gideon. We can go down together and use—”

“No,” Gideon said, interrupting Dipper once more. Dipper was used to being interrupted (and to interrupting others), but it was still rather annoying. “You need to stay with the perytons,” Gideon said. “Someone has to be ready to help Ford get on one of their backs and hold him there, in case he can’t sit up on his own.”

“Why wouldn’t he be able to sit up on his own?” Dipper asked in alarm.

“Because the servants know exactly how to hurt you to get the effect they want!” There was a frantic look in Gideon’s eyes, like a frightened animal. “He won’t have the strength to walk or do much else once they’re done with him. I’ll probably have to levitate him onto a peryton, and you’ll have to be there to hold him on.”

“But you can’t go by yourself,” Dipper said. “I won’t stay behind, either! He’s my uncle!”

“Keep your voice down,” Gideon hissed. “The servants could come up here any moment to interrogate my parents.”

Dipper glared at him. Then his mind processed what he’d said. “Your parents. Why don’t we ask Geneva to go down there and try to stop them from hurting him?”

Gideon shook his head. “They wouldn’t listen. They might even hurt her if she tried. And my father has already made it clear that he won’t help us.” He let out a long breath. “It’s a miracle he’s not working against us.”

“Then I’m coming with you,” Dipper said. “They’re expecting you, but they’re not expecting me or Mabel’s grappling hook. Same with the stun guns.”

Gideon pursed his lips. “They have a stun gun, too,” he said. “They took Ford’s when they kidnapped him. They’ll be able to see you and shoot you, and I can’t levitate you and Ford at the same time if you fall unconscious. And who’s going to help Ford onto the perytons?”

At that, Dipper felt Marigold the peryton gently interject with her thoughts. It was true that a human had to help Ford stay on the perytons, especially if they were making a quick getaway; but why not have one of the boys get on first, and then help Ford on?

“Exactly,” Dipper said, patting Marigold’s neck. “And who’s to say he’ll even need help? Ford’s a strong guy.”

“We have to prepare for the worst, Dipper,” Gideon said. “That’s what happens at this place.”

Dipper wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He studied Gideon, who looked highly uncomfortable under his gaze. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” Dipper asked.

“Yes,” Gideon said bluntly. “I’ll tell you what you need to know to save your uncle, but everything else is private.”

Dipper didn’t like that, but Gideon looked too high-strung to argue with. He looked more worried than Dipper thought he’d be about Ford. “How much danger is my uncle in, really?” Dipper asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“Bill needs him alive,” Gideon whispered. “Anything else is fair game.”

Dipper’s stress levels shot up at that sentence. “So how do we save him? What do we need to do?”

Gideon shook his head, thinking. “I don’t know. You stay with the perytons and get them into position by a window I’ll point out to you, and I’ll. . . I’ll take a stun gun and shoot the servants while invisible.”

“How many are there? Ten, right?”

“Lincoln said two were sleeping, but I’m sure they’ll get woken up to look for me,” Gideon said.

“Well, that’s way too many people for one person, especially if they know how to fight your amulet. I’m coming with you.”

Anger pushed through the anxiety on Gideon’s face. “Dipper, this isn’t—”

“Gideon,” came a quiet voice.

Gideon turned his head. “What is she doing?” he whispered. He gave Dipper a firm _stay here_ gesture, then went to the edge of the roof.

A moment later, Geneva floated up to the roof, surrounded by the blue glow of Gideon’s magic. Her face looked scared, but she took deep breaths. Gideon set her down on the roof; she stumbled, but he put out an arm to stabilize her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“It’s not safe for you to be out here,” Gideon said, but he led her back to Dipper and the perytons. “The servants could come by at any moment.”

“Yes, but. . .” She took a deep breath and adjusted her fur coat. “I want to help. I want to help rescue Stanford, and I want to come with you.”

Gideon stared at her in shock. “But you’re safe here,” he said. “Dipper and Ford are going back to the Mystery Museum, where the other ten servants are trapping everyone inside. It’s physically safe there, but it’s under siege. And once I rescue Mabel, Bill will turn all his resources into breaking in.”

“Then I’ll be there to join you in stopping them,” Geneva said.

Dipper looked closely at Geneva. It didn’t look like she had worked hard a day in her life, much less physically fought against anyone. Still. . . Dipper could see traces of fear in her face, but also a shaky determination. She was sincere.

“It won’t be comfortable there,” Gideon said. “They don’t have as good a generator as we do, so there’s low light and little heat; and the food is decent, but—”

“Gideon,” Geneva interrupted, “do you think I care about comfort right now?”

Gideon shut his mouth, looking confused. It was clear he thought that his mother very much cared about her comforts.

Geneva saw his expression and nodded slowly. “I’ve been weak my entire life, I know. I don’t blame you for thinking that. But when the servants took over, I. . . I realized I cared more about my own comfort than the fact that there was a demon living in my house. That’s what it took for me to realize I needed to change. Not the cult, not”—her eyes flicked to Dipper—“not your father’s behavior, but my own entitlement. Selfish, I know.” She closed her eyes briefly. “I know I might not be very helpful. But I want to try. I want to do something besides sit here and complain about the servants. I’ll do my best to take care of myself and stay out of the way. I. . . I want to go with you to the Museum.”

Dipper and Gideon both stared at her.

“Please, Gideon,” Geneva whispered.

“Does Father know? Will he try to stop you?”

Geneva stood up a little taller. “Your father doesn’t own me, no matter how much I’ve let him rule over me in the past. I won’t ask him for permission. But. . . no, I haven’t told him.”

Gideon looked hesitant. “You’ll have to pack a bag, and ride a peryton, and the servants will come after us with a stun gun and who knows what else. I don’t think. . .” He trailed off, obviously not wanting to tell her no, but not wanting her to put herself in danger, either.

Despite Gideon’s hesitations, Dipper liked this plan. “She can be the one to stay with the perytons while you and I save Ford,” he said. “It’s perfect.”

“I was quite a good horseback rider when I was younger,” Geneva added. “I’m sure I can ride a peryton.” She smiled softly at Rowan and Marigold, who inclined their heads respectfully to her.

Gideon’s expression didn’t change. “Gideon,” said Geneva gently, “if it’s my safety you’re worried about, I believe it’ll be safer for me with you than it will be to stay here. I’m sure it won’t take the servants long to find out that I was the one to get your amulet. And then what will they do to me?”

Gideon flinched. “Nothing good,” he whispered. He gave a small sigh. “You’re right. You should come. But Dipper, I still don’t think you should—”

“I’m coming with you,” Dipper said. It felt good to interrupt Gideon, rather than the other way around. “That’s non-negotiable. Geneva will take the perytons to wherever you say, and you and I will go get Ford.”

Gideon’s face was stormy as he thought. Dipper didn’t know what he was thinking about, since it was already decided that Dipper was coming with him. But apparently those were his thoughts, for he said, “I won’t be able to protect you. It’ll be hard enough to get Ford out of there safely.”

“The stun gun and the grappling hook will protect me,” Dipper said. “You don’t have to worry about it. And I’ll help with Ford, too — we’re doing this together, after all.”

The silence that followed was ridiculously long, in Dipper’s opinion, but finally Gideon seemed to see sense. “Okay. We’ll go together.”

Dipper grinned. “Awesome. So where are we going?”

Gideon opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a sudden commotion from the room below. Gaston’s voice carried clearly through the roof: “Have you no decorum anymore? You’re supposed to knock!”

Dipper and the others fell silent. Dipper could hear the voice of someone else in the room, though it was muffled by the roof, and he couldn’t make out any words. Gaston, however, was quite easy to hear. “Are you mocking me?” Gaston demanded. “Of course I haven’t seen Gideon. He ran away, remember? _You_ dragged me away from him before I could bring him home!”

The servant — for who else could it be? — said something else that Dipper couldn’t make out.

“ _What?_ How could he have his amulet back? You know as well as I do that it’s safely locked away!”

After this, Gaston’s voice quieted down, so that Dipper could hear that there was a conversation occurring but couldn’t follow it. Beside him, Gideon appeared frozen with fear, and Geneva’s face was apprehensive.

Then, “What are you doing?” Gaston demanded. “Get away from there!”

The door to the balcony opened.

Gideon’s eyes widened. The top of a woman’s head appeared just beyond the roof. The servant was coming out here to look for Gideon.

She went to the edge of the balcony, scanning the sky beyond. If she turned and looked up, she’d see the boys and Geneva and the perytons. All their advantages would be lost.

Dipper frantically nudged Gideon with his elbow, then pointed at the packs and made a gun with his fingers. The stun guns were in there; Gideon needed to take one and shoot the servant with it before she could react.

Clarity returned to Gideon’s eyes. He bent down, carefully unzipped a pack, and pulled out a stun gun. Then his amulet glowed blue, and he lifted into the air.

When the servant turned to look up at the roof, Gideon was floating above her, the stun gun pointed directly at her chest. He fired. She crumpled to the floor.

Dipper let out a relieved breath. Gideon flew back and hovered just above the roof, his shoes inches from the snow. “We should have about fifteen minutes before someone comes looking for her. Mother, pack a bag with warm clothes. I want to be ready to leave in five minutes.”

Dipper frowned. “Leave? You don’t mean—”

“No, Dipper, of course I don’t mean leaving without Ford.” Gideon’s tone was waspish.

Dipper put his hands up. “You okay, dude? You kinda froze there.”

“It won’t happen again,” Gideon said stiffly.

Geneva reached out, like she wanted to touch Gideon’s shoulder, but then she stopped. Her hand dropped back to her side.

If Gideon noticed the gesture, he didn’t show it. “I’ll fly you down to the balcony, Mother, and come with you to put Julia in the closet. She’ll be unconscious for a few hours.”

“Did you hurt her?” Geneva asked.

This question seemed to bother Gideon — likely because this servant, Julia, would’ve done much worse to him than knock him unconscious if she’d had the chance — but he simply replied, “No.”

“I’ll stay with the perytons,” Dipper said, trying not to sound morose. Gideon nodded, not really paying attention to Dipper, and went back down to the balcony with Geneva.

They took a little longer than five minutes. Dipper slung his pack over his shoulder, leaned against Marigold, and waited. He didn’t hear anything happening in the room below. He wondered what Gaston’s reaction was to Geneva’s planned exodus. Dipper was usually good at understanding other people, but he couldn’t get a read on Gaston. It seemed the man had deliberately raised his voice to warn them about the servant. But his anger at the servant and at Gideon had sounded genuine. Was that his version of helping Gideon avoid the servants? Why had it terrified Gideon so much?

Dipper thought back to what Geneva had said to Gaston earlier. _I’ve sat aside and done nothing while you’ve abused our son._ That must be what Gideon wasn’t telling Dipper — why the boy got so tense and frightened around Gaston. Gideon had run away from abuse, and he was putting himself back in danger for Mabel.

He really did care about her.

So did Dipper. He cared about Mabel, and he cared about Ford, and he wanted to save them both. And he found he cared about Gideon’s safety, too. Part of him was curious about the abuse, but most of him knew it wasn’t necessary or appropriate to ask Gideon for details. Gideon had already promised to tell Dipper what he needed to know to rescue Ford. That was all that mattered right now.

Still, as he waited there on the roof, Dipper made a silent promise to Gideon that he wouldn’t have to come back here. He could stay at the Mystery Museum for as long as he needed to, as far as Dipper was concerned. Yes, Dipper and Mabel were trying to get home — leave Gravity Rises, go home with their parents — but surely Ford and Melody would take Gideon in, even if the twins weren’t here to keep him company. If they defeated Bill — _when_ they defeated Bill — they would also give Gideon a safe refuge. Dipper was determined to make that happen.

Soon enough, Gideon and Geneva came back up to the roof. Geneva had a duffel bag over her shoulder, and she was wearing a thick coat, sturdy boots, and warm, slim pants to ride on the perytons. Dipper had only met her this morning, but he still found it strange to see her in something other than a dress. She mounted Rowan with a long-forgotten grace.

“You know where they’ll have Stanford, Mother,” Gideon said. “Dipper, it’s a room on the second floor, on the opposite side of the Manor from here. You and I will sneak through the Manor to there, and Mother, you’ll take the perytons to the library. Unless you can think of a closer window.” Geneva shook her head, and Gideon continued, “Dipper, you’ll be in charge of shooting the glass with the grappling hook so we can get out.”

Dipper nodded. “There are nine servants left, right?” he asked.

“Right. They don’t know we have perytons, and they know I can’t levitate Ford and myself at the same time, so it’s possible that some of them will still be guarding the perimeter outside. Mother, Rowan, Marigold, you should probably stay on the roof and out of sight until you hear the library windows shatter.”

What if you can’t get to the library? asked Rowan.

“You should be able to hear the glass break no matter what room we’re in, so be ready to fly to a different part of the house if you need to.” Gideon picked up his pack, then took a deep breath. “All right. Let’s go.”

Dipper ran his hand down Marigold’s neck one more time before stepping back and waving. With Geneva on Rowan’s back, the perytons walked softly through the snow on the roof as Geneva guided them to the correct spot. Dipper hoped the snow would muffle their steps enough that no servants would hear them.

Dipper and Gideon went back down to the balcony and walked quietly through Gaston and Geneva’s room. Julia lay unconscious on the floor, rather than in the closet as Gideon had suggested, and Gaston lay on the bed. Dipper shot Gideon a surprised look. He’d shot his father with the stun gun, too?

“My mother did it,” Gideon whispered. “It was my father’s idea.”

“He really is helping you, then,” Dipper said.

Gideon gave a quiet scoff. “This way, he gets to pretend I attacked him. I’m sure he’ll use that against me later.”

Dipper stopped. Gideon glanced over his shoulder, confused.

“There doesn’t have to be a later,” Dipper said quietly. “You don’t have to come back.”

Gideon blinked in surprise. For a moment, his expression showed hints of hope and gratitude. Then the emotion disappeared from his face. “Let’s go get Ford,” he said. “Get out your stun gun and keep it ready. I’ll scout ahead, invisible, and let you know when it’s safe to come around corners and such.”

Dipper pulled his stun gun from his pack. “How will you communicate with me while you’re invisible?” he asked Gideon. “Touching my arm?”

Gideon stared at him for a moment. Then, “Yes, of course. I’ll tap you twice if the way is clear and once if it’s not.” His voice was strangely tense. Maybe he was embarrassed because Dipper had thought to set up a signal, and he hadn’t?

Dipper was tempted to make fun of him for that, but he didn’t. “Twice means go. Got it,” he said. “That way, you can stay invisible the whole time.”

Gideon nodded, seeming somewhat distracted. Then he said, “The best way for us to get to Ford is through back hallways and down a hidden staircase,” he said. “The servants won’t know which way I’m coming from, but I’m sure they’ll be keeping an eye on that staircase, so we’ll have to be careful. Can you walk quietly?”

Dipper rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you think I stomp around everywhere, but I know how to sneak around. I’m the prank master back home in Piedmont.” He grinned mischievously. “You know that from experience.”

“Right,” Gideon said, grimacing just a bit. “Well, this isn’t a prank. It’s a rescue mission.”

“Same rules for stealth.”

Gideon conceded the point with a tiny nod. “All right, come on.” He turned invisible, opened the door silently, and then whispered to Dipper that the way was clear. Dipper slipped from the room and closed the door behind him.

“We’ll be going down the hall to your right,” Gideon said. “Stay here for a second while I scout ahead. Be ready to shoot any servants that may come around the corner.”

Dipper stood by the door, with a good view of hallway corners on either side of him. He could hear Gideon’s footsteps as the boy left, but only barely, and they quickly faded as Gideon got farther away.

No servants appeared, and Dipper soon heard those faint footsteps again, followed by two quick taps on his shoulder. He turned and followed the invisible Gideon down the hall.

Dipper’s hand tightened on the stun gun. They were on their way. They were going to rescue Ford.

We’re coming, Grunkle Ford. We’re coming to save you.


	13. Chapter 13

The way was clear until Dipper and Gideon got to the hidden staircase. At the end of a long, dark hallway, the stairs dropped off at a perpendicular angle. Dipper couldn’t see the stairs, but he could clearly see the obstacle that lay in front of them.

The servants had hung a large sheet over the entrance to the stairwell. Dipper could see it from yards away. He heard Gideon suck in a breath beside him.

For a moment, Dipper wondered why a simple bedsheet could be a problem. But as he thought it through, he realized that it was a good method for catching someone who was invisible: If Gideon tried to pass, he’d move the sheet, and the servants would be able to shoot him with the stun gun without even seeing him.

Dipper felt a hand close around his wrist. Invisible Gideon tugged Dipper down the hall, away from the stairs, and around the corner. Dipper scanned for servants but saw none. “What’ll we do?” he whispered, assuming Gideon had pulled him to a place that was safe to talk.

“I don’t know,” Gideon said, letting go of Dipper. “This is the first time I’m using invisibility against them. I didn’t even know about it until Pacifica used it to sneak into the Museum.”

“When was that?”

“Back when she summoned Bill. The point is, I don’t know the best way to get past that sheet.”

“Can we take a different route?”

“I’m sure they’ve blocked both routes,” Gideon said. “The good news is, it’ll spread them out, and they only have one stun gun. The bad news is, any one of them could have it, and if we so much as move in front of the sheet, they’ll probably see your silhouette behind it.”

“But not yours. Maybe you can look through the sheet and see if you can tell how many of them are on the stairs.”

“Okay. Stay here. Shoot anything that moves.”

Gideon’s soft footsteps retreated. Dipper waited in the silence. It was a disturbing silence, for Dipper thought he should be able to hear Ford crying out in pain as the servants tortured him. Not that Dipper _wanted_ to hear that, but the fact that he couldn’t worried him all the more. Was Ford so hurt that he couldn’t even cry out? Had the servants shot him with his own stun gun, perhaps, and then locked him away somewhere? What if Ford wasn’t where Gideon thought he was in the first place?

Gideon returned. “They don’t have many lights on behind the sheet. I couldn’t really tell how many there were, but my guess is two.”

Dipper thought about that. “What if we go back, and I stay on this side of the sheet, and you walk over to the other side, and we both stick our stun guns between the sheet and the wall and then shoot? That way, they won’t know we’re there until we’re already shooting.”

“That could work, if we could see,” Gideon said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to aim at all from behind the sheet, and with the servants you really only have one chance to catch them by surprise.”

“Okay. . . what if I stand in the hall out of sight, shoot the sheet with the grappling hook to push it away, and you stand right behind it ready to shoot?”

Gideon was silent for a moment. “Those both sound like good plans, but. . . I don’t know if they’ll work.”

“Any plan has risk,” Dipper said. “Which one do you like better?”

“I guess the first one,” Gideon said, “since we have a chance of hitting them with the first big noise we make. But you have to be careful so they won’t see your shadow.”

“Right.” Dipper paused. “Hey, Gideon? Wouldn’t we be able to hear Ford? If. . . if the servants are hurting him, wouldn’t he be making noise?”

“The room he’s in is soundproof,” Gideon said. “Either really good architecture or magic; I’ve never figured it out. Are you worried he won’t be in there?”

“They know you’ll be going there to find him. Maybe it’s a trap.”

“It’s definitely a trap. It’s just a question of whether Ford is there or not. It’s been less than twenty minutes since they took him. They haven’t had much time to hurt him or hide him. And they don’t know where I am; I could be watching their every move, as far as they know. I think they’re more likely to have a lot of servants guarding him in the disciplinary, in hopes of catching me, than they are to hide him somewhere else.”

Dipper frowned. “The disciplinary? Is that. . . is that what the room is called?”

Gideon was silent again. Dipper tried to imagine his face, but he didn’t know what expression it would have. Then, “Don’t repeat that to anyone,” Gideon said, his voice low and rough. “You didn’t hear that.”

“Okay.” He didn’t dare argue.

Gideon made a frustrated noise. “I wish Lincoln were still here,” he said. “He scouted around the mansion for me earlier and reported to me in a séance. But I sent him off to the Mystery Museum, and now he’s not here to tell me how many people are behind that sheet or what state Ford is in.”

“Are there other ghosts you could summon to scout for us?” Dipper asked. “Mabel said there were ghosts here.”

“She helped me get rid of the last of them. I could try a séance to see if there are any nearby, but it would take time that we don’t have.”

“Okay, then we gotta find out for ourselves,” Dipper said. “What’s the Manor like between here and the. . . the room? If we get separated, which way do I go to find Ford?”

“We’re really close. At the base of the stairs is a hallway that ends in a thick grey door. There’s another hallway perpendicular to that one, so there are probably servants waiting there. There will be more servants inside the room, too, and the door will most likely be locked. I took the key from my father’s key ring after he fell unconscious, but I’ll need time to use it.”

“So we’ll shoot the two servants from behind the sheet, then run down the stairs and shoot the servants around the corner, and I’ll fend off any remaining servants while you unlock the door. Sounds like a plan.”

“Except the part where they’re hard to hit. They have quick reflexes. Your uncle probably fired at them point blank in the minotaur hut and they still managed to dodge.”

True. Dipper hadn’t thought of that. “But Ford wasn’t ready for them. We are. They don’t know we’re coming, either.”

“They’ll be ready just seconds after we fire the first shot.”

Dipper suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He was perfectly aware that this wouldn’t be easy, that almost anything could go wrong — but it seemed Gideon was already prepared to fail. It was discouraging.

“Okay,” Gideon said, his voice heavy despite his quiet whisper. “Let’s go get in position. We’ll have to shoot the first two servants from behind the sheet, then shoot the next two servants if they come around the corner, all before they manage to hit us.”

“Wait,” Dipper said. “Wait a second.”

“What?”

Dipper held up a hand as he thought through the idea that had just come into his head. Then he smiled. “I have a better idea,” he said.

~~~~~

Gideon wasn’t very confident about the plan, but he always found one problem or another with Dipper’s plans. What mattered was that Gideon agreed to it.

The boys silently got into position on either side of the sheet covering the stairwell. Dipper stood near the edge of the wall, watching his shadow carefully to be sure it didn’t extend onto the sheet. He waited, giving time for Gideon to get into position on the other side.

This part of the plan was the same: get into position and, on a signal from Dipper, shoot the stun guns through the edges on either side of the sheet. Dipper hoped they would hit someone, but he couldn’t see anything from here. Gideon was a lot more likely to get a good shot than he was. Still, he went over in his head the exact way he’d move his hand and the angle at which he’d point the gun.

The hall was silent. Dipper couldn’t hear Gideon or the servants on the other side of the bedsheet. He couldn’t hear Ford’s screams — if there were any. Part of him wondered if the bedsheets were just a distraction, and the servants were somewhere else entirely, hurting Dipper’s great uncle while Dipper failed to save him.

No. He’d be here. They could do this.

He looked to the spot where Gideon was supposed to be and pretended to lock eyes with his invisible friend. Then he gave a sharp nod.

Dipper shoved the muzzle of the stun gun between the fabric and the wall and fired, silently pleading that the blast strike a servant. The sound of a stun gun shot from the other side of the hall told him that Gideon had fired almost exactly when he had.

There was a series of thumps as someone on the other side of the sheet fell to the ground and rolled down the stairs. As satisfying as that was to hear, it was only one person.

There was no time to worry that they’d only hit one servant. Dipper kept firing through the sheet as Gideon moved quickly and quietly back through the hallway. There was a faint rush of air as he passed Dipper. He was on his way to the other path to the disciplinary, to cause more chaos over there. That was the improved plan: to hit the servants from two places at once.

After two more shots, Dipper pulled the gun back from the sheet and stepped away. Just in time, too: The shadow of a hand grasped at the air where Dipper’s gun had just been.

“Gideon,” said a calm, low voice, “the longer you keep this up, the worse it’ll be for you later. Be sensible.”

Dipper could see the outline of the man from here, and he wished he could send the grappling hook right into the servant’s stomach. But he was waiting for the perfect moment to use the grappling hook, and a blast from the stun gun would dissipate harmlessly on the fabric.

So instead, Dipper swung his leg straight into the man’s abdomen.

His foot connected, and he heard a grunt of pain and surprise, but then a iron hand gripped his ankle. Quick reflexes indeed. The bedsheet, disturbed by Dipper’s kick and now clutched in the servant’s fist, fluttered down from the ceiling as Dipper fell onto the floor. The servant batted the sheet away but didn’t let go of Dipper’s leg.

Then the sheet fell far enough that there was nothing between Dipper and the servant. Dipper, who had kept a firm grip on his stun gun, pointed it at the servant and fired.

It was a point-blank shot. The servant fell. So did Dipper, both from the kickback on the gun (it wasn’t much, but he was already at an awkward angle) and the sudden release of his leg as the servant’s grip slackened.

Dipper squirmed out from under the sheet and the servant. There was a hole in the servant’s shirt where the stun gun blast had burned it, and the visible skin was red, but the damage done was the least of Dipper’s concerns. He heard the distant sounds of Gideon shooting his stun gun at more servants, and he stuck his own stun gun in the waistband of his pants before taking the grappling hook from his pack.

Just as Gideon had said, there was an imposing grey door at the end of the short hallway at the base of the stairs. Another hallway went off to the left. A servant came around the corner and, seeing Dipper at the top of the stairs, aimed a stun gun at him.

But Dipper was already in motion. He shot the grappling hook at the ceiling, and it burrowed through the plaster and caught on the supporting rods with a metallic clank. The servant came into view just as Dipper jumped off the top stair.

He swung down the stairwell.

Dipper extended his feet and hit the servant in the face before he was able to shoot. The servant cried out and fell. Before he could get back to his feet, a quick shot from Gideon knocked him unconscious.

Dipper let go of the grappling hook and stumbled to a stop next to the unconscious servant. To his left, he could see Gideon fighting another servant. Now that there was only one left standing, it was a lot easier for him to stop her with his amulet. A blue glow surrounded the servant; she rose into the air; Gideon shot her in the chest.

All four guards were now unconscious.

Dipper grinned at Gideon. “We did it!” he whispered.

Gideon gave a small smile, but the apprehension on his face didn’t fade. He glanced to the disciplinary door. “We haven’t saved him yet,” he whispered back.

At that, there was a knock on the other side of the door. “Sound off,” called a male voice. It was muffled by the door, as if the speaker were yelling from the other end of a tunnel. But Dipper was sure he was right behind the door. “Are you all right out there?”

Dipper looked at Gideon with wide eyes. Sound off?

“The servants have different patterns for knocking on the door,” Gideon whispered. “I know a few of them, but we shouldn’t guess.” He pulled the key from his pocket. “But we can still get in. Keep your stun gun ready.”

He carefully and silently inserted the key into the lock. Dipper held his breath. Would the servant hear the lock turning?

“Gideon, if you’re out there, I urge you to turn yourself in,” the voice called. “You’ll be punished, yes, but then you will take part in the glorious cause of our lord. He will be freed, and it will be much better for you if you don’t resist him.”

Dipper made a disgusted face. He wanted to yell back at the servant that they’d all die if they didn’t resist, and that didn’t sound glorious at all — but he managed to keep quiet. By the door, Gideon slowly turned the key in the lock, then silently twisted the knob. He held the knob in place and glanced back at Dipper.

Dipper raised the stun gun.

Gideon shoved the door open.

The man behind the door cried out as it hit him. Dipper hoped it got him right in the face. Gideon and Dipper ran into the room, and Dipper took it all in at once: the red-haired servant beside the door, with watering eyes and a murderous scowl; the servant across the room, with a metal sledgehammer in his hand; and Ford, lying crumpled on the floor.

Bile rose in Dipper’s throat, but he managed to stay focused. He shot at the servant across the room while Gideon froze the servant beside the door with his amulet. Dipper’s first shot didn’t connect, but Dipper kept shooting until the servant fell.

The remaining servant started yelling for help, but he quickly fell silent as Gideon’s magic forced his mouth shut. “I’ll never join you, Marcus,” Gideon said. “I’ll never turn myself in. Bill _won’t_ be freed.”

He glanced over his shoulder at Dipper. Dipper nodded, raised the stun gun, and shot Marcus.

Gideon dropped the man’s unconscious body on the ground.

Dipper’s heart was hammering in his chest. He ran to Ford’s side. “Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford, we’re here!” He knelt beside his uncle, staring at him in horror. Legs should _not_ bend at that angle.

For a moment, he thought Ford was unconscious, but then the man stirred and cracked open his eyes. “Dipper,” he murmured.

Gideon came over. “We’ll take him to the hamadryads,” he said in a shaky voice. “They should be able to heal him.”

“You sure?” Dipper whispered.

Gideon nodded. He knelt beside Ford. “I’m sorry, Stanford. This is all my fault.”

“No,” Ford said, his eyes closed. “Servants’ fault. Bill’s fault.” Then his face screwed up, and his body spasmed. A suppressed scream of pain rumbled in his throat.

“Ford!” cried Dipper. He reached out, not sure what he was going to do, but wanting to help somehow.

Gideon shoved him away. “Go to the door. Watch for more servants. There are still three of them out there somewhere.”

“I’m not leaving,” Dipper said stubbornly.

Gideon took in a frustrated breath but didn’t argue. “Stanford,” he said, “I’m going to use my amulet to help you fall asleep. We’ll take you to the nymphs, and they’ll heal you. Just try to relax.”

Ford didn’t respond, but Gideon knelt back and stared at him intently, his amulet glowing a soft blue. Dipper tried to keep his eyes on Gideon’s amulet and its calming blue light, rather than on his uncle’s broken body.

Ford’s ragged breathing settled into something a little more rhythmic. After a minute or so, Gideon turned to Dipper. “I think he’s asleep,” he said.

“Thank you,” Dipper whispered.

Gideon looked down. “My sister had the amulet when she was a teenager,” he said, his voice slow and quiet. “She used to do this for me when I was in a lot of pain.”

Dipper didn’t know what to say to that. In his periphery, he could tell that the disciplinary held various tools and instruments designed to cause pain. He refused to look at them straight on, though. He didn’t need to know what the servants had done to Ford. What they’d done to Gideon. All that mattered was getting both of them to safety.

“Let’s go,” Gideon said. He got to his feet and used his amulet to lift Ford from the floor. “Go get the grappling hook and the other stun gun.”

Dipper did so, jumping over various unconscious servants as he went. Ford’s stun gun lay beside the servant that had used it, and the grappling hook dangled from the ceiling in the stairwell. Dipper got the grappling hook first, then put the extra stun gun in his pack.

Ford floated out of the disciplinary, followed by Gideon. “I have to keep my eyes on Ford to levitate him,” Gideon said. “You take the grappling hook and a stun gun and go first, and I’ll follow. The library is down this hall and to the left.” He pointed down the hall perpendicular to the stairwell. “Keep an eye out for those last three servants.”

They made their way through the halls to the library. Dipper didn’t see any servants along the way; the last three servants were either prowling the halls elsewhere or standing guard outside the Museum. Or maybe they were with Bill, protecting him in case of an attack.

“Gideon,” Dipper said as they went, “I want to go see Lee.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Gideon purse his lips, though he kept his eyes on Ford. “Lee is going to meet us at the Museum,” he said.

“As a spirit, yeah. But I want to go find his body and see if we can get Bill out.”

“We can’t,” said Gideon, “and we want to be out of here long before the servants start waking up.”

“But what if we can save both of them?”

Gideon took a deep breath. “We did. Lee said he had been unaware of anything until I pulled him to me in our séance. We saved them both, and now we have to get out of here so we can save Mabel, too.”

Dipper nodded. It made sense, but it still felt like they were abandoning Lee if they didn’t rescue his body as well as his spirit. “Fine, you’re right,” he said. Then he took a deep breath of his own, and his next words came out in a rush. “I want to help you save Mabel. We’re going to put Ford on Rowan with your mother, and Rowan can get them safely to the nymphs and then to the Museum. I can fly on Marigold up to Mabel’s moon.”

Gideon was quiet for a moment. “I think you should stay with Ford,” he said. “My mother doesn’t know very much about the forest.”

“But Rowan does,” Dipper said. “I trust him. Please, Gideon, let me come.”

“Flying there might not be the only problem,” Gideon said. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to get inside the moon, or how I’ll get Mabel out of it. But. . . okay. You can try to come with me.”

Dipper wanted to cheer, but he knew they still had to stay quiet. “Thank you.”

Gideon finished directing Dipper to the library, which was blessedly empty. One wall boasted a large window that gave a wonderful view of the grounds below. Dipper put the stun gun down and lifted the grappling hook.

Let’s hope the perytons are ready, he thought.

He fired the grappling hook, and the metal slammed into the glass with a terrific noise. The window crumpled from its frame.

The boys waited for the perytons to arrive.

Dipper could hear the distant sound of footsteps running to the library, so he handed the grappling hook to Gideon and went to the door, ready to throw it open and stun any servants behind it. Behind him, he heard the sound of beating wings and quiet talking as Gideon levitated Ford onto Rowan’s back and Geneva held him in place.

“Dipper, we’re ready,” Gideon said. Dipper ran back to the window, where Gideon levitated him outside and onto Marigold’s back. Then Gideon flew out the window.

They were ready to leave.

The library door flew open. “Stop!” a voice yelled.

But Rowan and Marigold were already flying away from the library, climbing through the air and quickly leaving the Manor behind. Gideon kept pace with them, blue light streaming behind him as he flew.

The cold wind blew past Dipper’s face. He glanced at Rowan, then Gideon. Ford was slung over Rowan’s back like a sack of potatoes, and Geneva gently held onto his waist to keep him there. Gideon flew horizontally like a superhero, with his arms by his sides and his hair pushed back in the wind. He looked focused, but Dipper could see hints of joy on his face as he flew once again with his amulet.

They’d done it. The Manor had already faded from view, and no servants could stop them now.

They were free.


	14. Chapter 14

“All right,” Gideon said, “I should go.”

Dipper patted Marigold’s neck. “Marigold, will you take me up to Mabel’s moon with Gideon?”

The peryton was hesitant. There was bad magic up there, she said. She didn’t know if it would be safe for any of them.

“I know, but I want to go with Gideon to save my sister,” Dipper said. “Please?”

Marigold and Rowan shared a look. Okay, the peryton agreed. She would go, but she would leave if it got dangerous.

“Thank you.”

“Rowan. . . ,” Gideon began. He hesitated for a moment. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for everything. Please take Ford and my mother to the hamadryads and ask them to heal him. Once he’s been healed, take them to the Mystery Museum, and make sure the servants there don’t see you.”

The buck agreed. They said their goodbyes; then Rowan banked, turning to a particular spot in the forest, as Gideon and Marigold flew up to Mabel’s moon.

Dipper had almost forgotten about the servants at the Museum. Together, the boys had fought seven servants and won, and somehow that felt like all of them. But it wasn’t, Dipper knew. They still had to deal with the servants and the Order members back at the Museum. He wondered if the Corduroys had convinced anyone to switch sides while he was gone.

With a start, he realized they hadn’t been gone for very long. They’d left that morning, and it was evening now, since Gideon had first gone to visit Ford around dinnertime. Dipper had no idea what time it was, but they’d been in the Manor for less than a day.

With that thought, he started to feel tired. He almost suggested to Gideon that they find a place to sleep for the night and then go after Mabel in the morning. But right after he had the thought, he realized how stupid it was. They had no idea how much longer Mabel had before. . . before it was too late. They couldn’t rest while she still needed them.

Gideon seemed to be thinking the same thoughts, for he looked tired but determined.

Mabel’s moon loomed above them as they flew towards it. It was big and blue, and Dipper could feel the evil emanating from the bright cracks in its surface. Marigold’s thoughts got more and more worried as they got closer.

Soon, the wind picked up. At first, Dipper thought it just happened to be windy, but the wind kept getting stronger and stronger, until Marigold was buffeted back and forth in its strong gales. The wind didn’t seem to affect Gideon (who didn’t rely on aerodynamics for his flight) nearly as much as it did Marigold. Her wings beat the air; she surged forward, but then a strong wind knocked her back. She tried again and again but didn’t seem to get anywhere.

“Fall back!” Gideon called over the wind. He flew down, away from the moon, and Marigold gratefully followed.

Dipper gently rubbed Marigold’s neck. I can’t do it, she told him. I’m sorry, but I can’t. She flapped her wings to stay in the air, but she looked tired.

“Please,” Dipper said. “Please try.”

“Dipper,” said Gideon, who was hovering nearby, “I don’t think she can make it. The wind is too strong. I have to go on my own.”

“No, please, one more try! I have to get up there!”

“Dipper. . .”

Marigold tossed her head. One more try, she said. One more.

“Okay,” Gideon said to her. “If you want to.”

Dipper felt Marigold gathering her strength. She nodded, and she and Gideon started ascending again.

The wind beat at them once more. Dipper leaned down as far as he could against Marigold, and her powerful wings beat the wind right back. Gideon purposefully slowed down to wait for Marigold; he looked battered, but the amulet seemed to be shielding him from the worst of the wind. Not Marigold: She had to fight for every inch of progress.

Dipper silently encouraged her on. But it wasn’t too long before Marigold’s slow progress became no progress at all, and the most powerful strokes of her wings couldn’t get her any closer to Mabel’s moon. It was all she could do to stay in the air.

She let out a bleating call of distress — the first actual sound Dipper had heard from her — and fell back.

Dipper’s heart sank as they dove away from the moon — away from the wind. When the wind had died to a breeze, Marigold stopped and hovered in the air.

Gideon followed them down and hovered beside them. “I’m sorry, Dipper,” he said. “I really have to go alone.”

In the sky above, the stars disappeared and reappeared.

Dipper squeezed his eyes shut as tears — from the harsh winds and from his own sadness — dribbled down his cheeks. “I don’t—”

“What?” Gideon asked when Dipper didn’t finish.

Dipper knew that Marigold was tired, that she wanted to land. If he wanted to say something to Gideon, he had to do it now. “I don’t want Mabel to be hurt like Ford,” he said. “I — I want her to be okay.”

“She’ll be okay,” Gideon promised. “It’s hard to wait for someone else to save her, I know. And I. . . I’ll admit, I’m scared that I won’t be able to help her.” He took a deep breath. “But I’m going to try. If it’s possible to save Mabel, then I’m going to save Mabel.”

Dipper believed him. He believed that Gideon would do his best to help her. But it still would be agony to wait for them.

“Here,” Dipper said. “Take this.” He pulled his pack around and rummaged in it until he pulled out Mabel’s sketchbook. He held it out to Gideon. “Take this to her. Give it back to her.”

Gideon took the sketchbook and put it in his pack. “All right,” he said.

Dipper drew in a deep breath.

“Go. Go save my sister,” he said. He stared hard at Gideon through his blurry tears, as if he could send him success through nothing but his gaze.

“I will,” Gideon said.

And he rose once more towards Mabel’s moon.

Dipper wanted to watch him, but Marigold was exhausted, and she needed to land as soon as possible. So Dipper turned away from the moon as Marigold flew to the forest.

He closed his eyes, unable to bear the blue light of the moon he couldn’t reach. But closing his eyes wasn’t much better, for whenever he did, he saw Ford again, lying on the cold concrete floor of the disciplinary. Eventually, the image of Ford morphed into the image of Mabel, lying broken on the same bare floor.

Dipper made a pitiful noise and buried his face in Marigold’s fur. No. No, Mabel wouldn’t be like that. She would be okay. And Ford was with the nymphs by now, getting healed. He would be okay, too.

Marigold felt Dipper’s thoughts and sent back feelings of comfort and peace. He leaned against her gratefully, trying to banish the nightmarish images from his mind.

“Do you know where to find Rowan and the others?” he asked her. Yes, she told him. He would be back with their herd, near Ivy’s tree.

They soon arrived. Marigold landed on her feet, but quickly fell to her knees, right in the deep snow. Dipper climbed off of her and stroked her wing. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you. I’m sorry I tired you out so much.”

Marigold looked up at him with her clear black eyes. She wanted to help, she told him. She didn’t regret it.

Dipper threw his arms around her neck. “Thank you,” he said again.

“Dipper?” said a voice.

Dipper turned from Marigold to see Geneva, standing a few yards away and looking a bit lost. “Hey, Geneva,” Dipper said. He got to his feet, patted Marigold one more time, and then went over to her. “Where’s Ford? Are the nymphs healing him?”

Geneva nodded slowly. “The nymph took him into that tree,” she said, pointing. “Is that, um, normal?”

“Yeah, that’s how they heal you. I hope his metal plate doesn’t get in the way,” he said as an afterthought. But it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

“How long will he be in there?” Geneva asked.

“Um, no idea,” Dipper said. “A nymph healed me this morning, and it only took a few minutes, but I just had some scratches and bruises, not broken bones.” He swallowed as the unwanted image of Ford came back into his mind. “Where’s Rowan?” he asked Geneva, trying to think about something else.

Before Geneva could answer, Rowan appeared, stepping between the trees. He sent a warm greeting to Dipper, but his mood changed in an instant when he saw Marigold lying in the snow. He hurried over to her, kneeling beside her and nuzzling her gently.

Dipper gasped. “They’re mates,” he said in a soft voice. Of course they were. Dipper grinned at them and, for a moment, forgot his worries about his own family.

Dipper and Geneva watched the two perytons. At Rowan’s encouragement, Marigold got to her feet, and the two of them walked slowly past the humans.

“Rowan?” said Dipper as he passed. An idea had just occurred to him.

The peryton glanced at him. Dipper and Geneva were welcome to follow, but Rowan had to take Marigold someplace warm and dry where she could rest.

“Warm and dry sounds good; could we wait for Ford with her?” Dipper asked, following the perytons. Geneva trailed behind. Rowan agreed that they could wait with Marigold. He took them to a copse of pine trees, and Marigold ducked under the branches. Dipper moved the branches aside and watched her curl herself around a tree trunk and put her head down on the snowless dirt.

Dipper smiled at her, then turned back to Rowan. “How long do you think Ford will be?” he asked.

Rowan wasn’t sure, but his best guess was two to three hours.

“Will you or another peryton take me to the minotaurs? They’re going to want an update on everything that happened today.” Dipper glanced at Geneva. “You can come, too, if you want.”

“Oh, no, I’ll stay here with this peryton,” she said. She seemed nervous at the thought of minotaurs. She smiled at Dipper, then followed Marigold under the pine trees.

I can take you, Rowan said. How long will you want to be there?

“Probably about an hour,” Dipper said. He had to tell Andrew his story, and tell him what they were planning to do about the Cipher Wheel, and Andrew might have something to tell Dipper, too. An hour seemed like a good estimate.

Dipper mounted Rowan, who was bigger and stronger than Marigold. Rowan took off and, after about ten minutes of flight, landed again outside the minotaur village. They were outside the boundary of invisibility, but Dipper recognized the trees and nearby cliffs.

“Andrew?” he called as he and Rowan walked toward the village. “If anybody can hear me, I need to talk to Andrew.”

He stepped forward, and the village appeared, but no minotaurs were nearby. Dipper led Rowan deeper into the village, calling for Andrew.

After a minute, Andrew exited one of the huts. “Dipper,” he said in surprise. “I thought you were at the Museum.”

“I was, but a lot happened today,” Dipper said. He patted Rowan’s neck. “Rowan flew me here so I could tell you about it.”

“Come in, then,” Andrew said, gesturing inside the hut.

Rowan stayed outside, and Dipper went into the small hut. To his delight, it was full of minotaurs: Moira, Andrew’s wife; Ásham, her nephew; and Enoch, Naomi, Drew, and Timmy, Andrew’s four calves. After a few minutes of introductions, Dipper sat at the table with little Timmy in his arms and told Andrew the whole story of what happened today.

All seven minotaurs listened with rapt attention, and Dipper quickly got into his captivating storytelling mode. When he told about Ford’s rescue and how he used his grappling hook to swing down the stairs and kick a servant in the face, Naomi gasped and started clapping.

Dipper told them that Bill was in Lee’s body all the time now, which meant that they couldn’t rescue Lee, but also meant that Bill couldn’t spy on them. He told them how Ford was getting healed by the nymphs, and Lee was at the Museum as a spirit, trying to talk to Pacifica about possessing someone. Andrew had met Pacifica on the day she’d stolen the dagger, and he doubted she would help Lee at all. “I know,” Dipper said. “I. . . I really hate her right now for what she did to Mabel. But until Gideon gets back, Lee can’t talk to anyone else.”

Once Dipper finished telling his long story, Andrew told him what he had been doing: readying spells. The minotaurs were too large to ride flying creatures like perytons, and Andrew struggled to find a spell that would temporarily grant them flight; but he had been trying, and he and his son Enoch had gathered together the offensive and defensive spells they knew and taught them to other minotaurs. “When we come to the Museum,” Andrew said, “we’ll be able to help fight Cipher’s servants and give you time to form the Cipher Wheel. We weren’t prepared last time, and Pacifica got past us with dark magic we weren’t ready to counter. But we will be ready soon.”

“Awesome,” Dipper said. “Once Gideon comes back with Mabel, he might be able to levitate you guys across the rifts.”

Speaking of dark magic, Dipper wanted to know how Pacifica had gotten the dagger. With heavy voices, Andrew and Enoch took turns telling the story: how Andrew’s brother, Caleb, had betrayed them all and given the dagger to Pacifica.

“He has a human wife and child I never knew about,” Andrew said. “Yingtai and Mei Xing Chiu.”

Dipper’s eyes widened. “Chiu? Like, Candy Chiu?”

Andrew wasn’t sure, but Dipper didn’t know any other Chius. “Candy is part _minotaur_?” he exclaimed. “That’s awesome!”

The minotaurs all flinched.

Dipper realized he was being insensitive and winced. “Sorry,” he said. “He shouldn’t have hidden that from you.”

Andrew took a deep breath. “It sounds like this Candy is your friend.”

“Yeah, she is. I hope she’s okay.”

“She’s with her papa now,” Enoch said quietly. “That’s good, at least.”

After that, the hut felt subdued, but Dipper stayed a few more minutes. They talked for a little longer, and then Dipper figured it had been about an hour. “Well, I’m going to go with Rowan and wait for Ford to be healed,” he said. “It was so great to meet you all.”

Andrew nodded. “Thank you for visiting and telling us everything. Stay safe.”

“You too,” Dipper said. He turned to go.

“Dipper.”

He looked over his shoulder. Ásham was staring at him intently.

“Yeah?” Dipper asked. Ásham had hardly said anything the entire time Dipper had been here.

“Defeat Bill Cipher,” Ásham said. “My. . . my wife. . .”

Moira put a hand on his shoulder, and he ran a hand over his blue-grey head with a shaky breath. “My wife died fighting him,” Ásham said. “You have to defeat him.”

Dipper’s eyes widened. He wanted to ask what happened. Was Ásham’s wife that nice minotaur who had been guarding Lee last week? Had she died when the servants kidnapped Ford and Lee?

But he didn’t say any of that. “We will,” he said simply.

He left the minotaur hut, and Rowan flew him back to Ivy’s tree. They went to the copse of trees where they’d left Marigold, and to Dipper’s surprise, Ford was there, leaning against Marigold’s wing and resting. Geneva explained that Ivy had brought him out of the tree a few minutes ago, but he likely wouldn’t be fully healed for some hours yet.

“Then maybe we should stay the night here,” Dipper said. He was exhausted, but he’d managed to ignore it until now. “Rowan, can Geneva, Ford, and I stay with you and Marigold under those trees?”

Rowan agreed, and they all got situated. Dipper gave Geneva some heat mushrooms from his pack and got some out for himself. Geneva curled up against Rowan, and Dipper leaned against Marigold, sitting beside Ford.

Ford seemed to be asleep, but Dipper whispered to him, “I’m here now, Grunkle Ford. We’re going to sleep here while you heal. Then we’ll go back to the Mystery Museum.”

Ford wasn’t asleep, as it turned out. With his eyes closed, he said, “Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Dipper.”

“Of course.”

Ford gave a little chuckle. “Interesting timing, isn’t it? I’d just healed from the Order beating me up at the UFO. Good thing Ivy was willing to heal me this time.”

“Yeah,” Dipper said. Then he found tears in his eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Grunkle Ford. I was. . . I was so scared. When I saw you in that room. . .”

Ford reached out and took Dipper’s hand. “I’m okay now,” he said softly.

He was. He was okay.

Dipper snuggled against Marigold. Still holding his grunkle’s hand, he finally allowed himself to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Camille Pines lay back on the bed in her hotel room with a deep sigh. She felt so useless. And anxious, and panicked. Not a good combination.

“Good night, honey,” said her husband, Samuel, from the other side of the bed. He was already half asleep.

“Good night,” she whispered back.

She lay there in the darkness. The pillow was uncomfortable: overly fluffy, with no neck support. Camille usually brought her own firm pillow to hotels, but she hadn’t thought to bring it this time. She and her husband had jumped in the car on Saturday as soon as Jesús Ribera had called them with the terrible news. They’d driven all day to get to Oregon, only to find exactly what Soos had described: an empty crater. No trees, no animals, no Mason, no Mabel.

Camille’s children had disappeared.

There was nothing Camille and Sam could do here. Nothing at all. It had been four days since they’d arrived, and nothing had happened. The crater was now swarmed with reporters and scientists — everyone trying to figure out what had happened, everyone concerned about the people who had disappeared — but no progress had been made.

Camille and Sam weren’t the only ones worried about family members. An elderly woman named Dr. Eleanor Pleasure spent most of her time with the scientists, grilling them on what they were doing to bring her precious granddaughter back to her. And just today, Sam had run into a distraught young woman named Grace Prewitt. He had tried to comfort her as she told him about how she needed to find her brother, but it was hard to comfort someone when you had the same worries as they did.

Had Stanford done something? Sam described his uncle as a paranormal researcher, but Camille had dismissed that as either a misplaced obsession or a selling point for tourists. She vaguely believed in a higher power of some sort, but she’d never believed in magic or the supernatural. So when she’d seen the crater for herself. . . when she’d discovered that the entire town of Gravity Rises had disappeared, as if it had never existed. . .

She was already anxious enough without an existential crisis on top of that. But one of her theories was that Stanford’s paranormal research was somehow responsible for the town disappearing.

If you watched the news, it seemed everyone in the country had a theory for what had happened. Undetected meteor, said astronomists. Freak seismic activity, said geologists. God’s judgment, said religious fanatics. What her children would be judged so harshly for, Camille had no idea. They weren’t perfect, but they were good children with kind hearts.

She missed them so much.

The twins’ vacation was only supposed to last a week and a half. Now they had been gone for two weeks, and Camille got more anxious for them by the second. They were supposed to be home four days ago; school had started two days ago. Where were they? What had happened to them? Would Camille ever see them again?

A light snore from Samuel told her that he was asleep. Part of her resented him for that. How can you sleep? she wanted to scream at him. How can you sleep when our babies are gone? But she didn’t say that, because she knew he was doing the right thing. They couldn’t do anything to help Mason and Mabel, so they should take care of themselves while they worried.

Useless.

Camille realized there were tears on her face. Those had been appearing out of nowhere a lot the past few days. She’d almost stopped noticing them.

She rolled onto her side and let the tears drain from her eyes.

~~~~~

Dipper woke up shivering. As he slept, Marigold had covered him and Ford with her wing to help them stay warm, but they were still on the cold ground outside in the middle of winter.

He had no idea what time it was. The sky gave no indication. But he felt rested, and Ford’s healing had finished. The people at the Museum might still be asleep, but that wouldn’t stop Dipper and the others from going home.

“We’ll need to fly in without the servants seeing us,” Ford said. Now that he was healed, he seemed ready to take charge. Dipper found that he was absolutely okay with that. He’d had enough of being in charge. Ford continued, “Rowan, Marigold, would you be willing to stay at the Museum with us once we get there? We’ll find a place for you to stay.”

Rowan and Marigold agreed. Ivy came out of her tree, said goodbye to her peryton friends, and made sure Ford was all right.

“I feel better than I’ve felt in weeks,” Ford said. “Thank you, Ivy.”

Ivy smiled, her curly black hair bouncing in the breeze. “I’m glad I could help.”

Ford rode alone on Rowan, and Dipper sat in front of Geneva on Marigold. The perytons and Geneva needed to have one of the Pines touching them so that they could get through the barrier around the Museum.

The perytons took off, and they were back in the air. Dipper was sore after riding the perytons yesterday, and he shifted uncomfortably on Marigold’s back.

They got to the Museum about five minutes later. Dipper didn’t even see it until the perytons started spiraling down to it. They landed near the front porch, and no one noticed them until they were already on the ground.

Their arrival caused a bit of an uproar on the other side of the barrier, but Dipper and the others ignored it. The humans dismounted and went inside while the perytons waited outside.

It turned out to be early morning. The date was Thursday, January seventeenth. Melody was in the kitchen, and she rushed to the front door as they entered. She was beside herself with surprise and joy at seeing them. So was Waddles: He perked up from his spot on the couch and raced to Dipper’s side to greet him. After Dipper’s reunion with his pig, Melody insisted that they all sit down and eat some of the breakfast she had just made.

Fidds was sitting at the table when they entered the kitchen. He looked up in surprise at Ford, and Ford hesitated when he saw him.

“Welcome back, Ford,” Fidds said. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Ford didn’t respond at first. Then, “Thank you,” he said quietly. He sat at the table and started eating.

Fidds gave a relieved smile. Dipper grinned at him and sat beside him, and Geneva and Melody sat in the remaining two chairs. They ate a delicious breakfast that made Dipper feel like he’d been away from Melody’s cooking for a week instead of a day.

When they’d finished breakfast, the Valentinos came in to take the next shift. The three boys bounced into the room, and Danny and Wendy followed. Dipper stopped in the doorway and looked back at Wendy. “Hey, Wendy,” he said, “how’s your mural?”

“Huh?” she said. “Oh. It’s done.”

“Cool, that was fast.”

She shrugged.

“Mural?” Ford asked.

“She’s been spray-painting a protest mural on the side of the Museum,” Dipper said.

“What?!”

Dipper grabbed Ford’s hand, pulling him away before he could yell at the girl. “Come on, Grunkle Ford, let’s go see it.”

He took Ford outside to the spot where Wendy had painted the mural: on the wall to the left of the porch. A glowfly lantern sat on the corner of the porch, throwing light onto the mural so that the guards outside the barrier could see it. It was to protest _them_ , after all, so they needed to know about it.

Dipper walked down from the porch to get a good view of the painting. “Woah,” he whispered.

It was a picture of Bill. The triangle was big and imposing, with a bright yellow body and a blood red eye that stared out at the viewer. He sat comfortably on a grey throne, which was made of _people_. About a dozen people, grey like statues, were fit together like building blocks to create the throne. Wendy had detailed their horrified faces, as well as the way their bodies were crammed into place.

At the base of the throne were black and red words that read, “Long Live the King.”

Dipper shivered.

“She ruined my wall,” Ford said in horror.

“It’s part of our effort to bring people over to our side,” Dipper said. “The Corduroys and I spent time talking to the Order members and explaining stuff, and Wendy painted this.”

Ford grunted. “She’s very skilled. I have to give her that.”

She was. The painting was horrifying, but it was a fitting representation of what Bill’s victory would be like. Dipper had never seen Bill with a red eye before, but it looked very imposing in Wendy’s painting. He had to wrench his gaze away from it.

Dipper and Ford went back inside to talk to Melody about finding a place for the perytons. Ford allowed Dipper and Melody to make space in his lab for them; so, with the help of the Valentino boys, they got started on that project. Ford went to talk to Pacifica and find out if Lee had visited her yet.

Melody seemed worried about caring for animals in a cabin that clearly wasn’t outfitted for such things, but Dipper assured her that the perytons would appreciate the shelter they gave them. She nodded, but the worry in her eyes didn’t quite go away.

Once the space was ready, and once Dipper promised that the perytons wouldn’t go into the dangerous corner that had discarded gadgets and broken parts from when Ford had trashed his own lab, Melody relaxed a bit. Dipper gave her a big hug. “You’re doing a lot to help everyone,” he said. “You’re the best.”

Melody hugged him back. “Thanks, Dip.”

She opened the door to the lab while Dipper went to go tell Rowan and Marigold that there was a place for them. The perytons could barely fit through the door, but they managed, and they mentally expressed their gratitude for the blankets and food that Melody had set out for them. Melody was enamored by these beautiful winged deer, and she told them she wanted to make them as comfortable as she could.

After that, there wasn’t anything pressing for Dipper to do. He ambled back to the living room to find Fidds and Geneva sitting beside each other on the couch, holding knitting needles and yarn. “Whatcha doing?” Dipper asked.

“Oh, Melody dug out a box of my old yarn and knitting needles,” Fidds said. “I used to knit a lot, you know. Your uncle’s red sweaters are a gift from me.”

“Really?”

Fidds smiled, looking nostalgic. “Yes, I made him one as a birthday present, and he loved it so much that he took it on adventures and ruined it. I made a lot more for him after that.”

Dipper laughed. “Are you teaching Geneva how to knit?” he asked. “Can you teach me?”

“I’ve done some knitting before,” Geneva said. “But it’s been a while.”

“Sure, I’ll teach you,” Fidds said.

“Cool! I want to make Mabel a hat for when she gets home.”

“I’m sure she’ll love that. Go ahead and pick out your colors from that box.” Fidds gestured to an open cardboard box on the ground.

“Woah, that’s a lot of yarn.” Dipper rummaged through the box until he found navy blue yarn and cream yarn that he thought Mabel would like. “I like these ones.”

“Good choice.”

Dipper sat beside Fidds on the couch. With Dipper on one side and Geneva on the other, Fidds showed them how to knit. It was relaxing and fun, and Dipper enjoyed it. Waddles soon came to sit on Dipper’s lap, and Dipper tried his best to knit despite the pig, which resulted in a lot of nudging and sighing and laughing. He didn’t try to push Waddles off his lap, and Waddles seemed to have no intention of leaving.

They knitted until lunchtime. After lunch, Fidds offered to help him knit some more, but Dipper decided to go outside instead. He went back to Ford’s lab and found Marigold and Rowan in the yard.

He could see the silhouettes of servants and Order members in the distance. He wanted to go find Tyler and thank him for helping them leave yesterday, but he didn’t dare. He didn’t want the servants to get suspicious.

He leaned against Marigold and gazed up at the sky. Mabel’s moon shone down on him.

Mabel would love to hear the story of their adventure yesterday, Dipper was sure. But he didn’t want to tell it out here where their enemies could overhear him. So, with a farewell to Marigold and Rowan, Dipper went back inside and up to the attic. The small room was as gloomy as ever without Mabel here to share it with, but Dipper reminded himself that she’d be home soon. Gideon would save her.

The window in the twins’ room faced south, and Mabel’s moon was to the southeast of the Museum. Dipper couldn’t see it through the window unless he went over to Mabel’s side of the room.

He sat on her bed and looked up at the moon.

“Hi, Mabel,” Dipper said. “I had a _crazy_ adventure yesterday. Wanna hear about it?”

**END OF EPISODE FOUR**


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